PANews reported on October 17th that, according to The Block, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce stated that the agency is focusing on several different areas, including token distribution rules, guidance on what constitutes a transaction, and issues related to cryptocurrency custody. She stated that the SEC is working with Congress to draft legislation to regulate the entire digital asset industry. Peirce also stated that tokenization is currently "a major area of focus" for the SEC. Peirce also discussed the need for privacy protection and called on the government to "vigorously defend people's right to live a private life." She suggested that cryptocurrency could be an opportunity to re-examine provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act, as well as anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations.

However, as the US government entered its second week of shutdown due to Congress's failure to reach an agreement on funding, all related work has been suspended, employees have been forced to take leave, and the work that federal agencies can perform has been greatly restricted.