David Hirsch, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto asset and cyber unit, has left the regulator.
He started as an enforcement attorney in the Forth Worth regional office in 2015, and spent two years as counsel to SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw. Since October 2022, he’d led the regulator’s crypto unit.
“This past Friday was my last day with the SEC after almost 9 years,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post Monday. “I’m particularly proud of the historic work done by the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit team I had the privilege to lead.”
The SEC has made efforts in recent years to position itself as the government’s primary cryptocurrency enforcer, waging wars against crypto firms such as Binance and Coinbase. Last week, the SEC settled with Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon for $4.47 billion related to the downfall of the Terra/Luna stablecoin ecosystem that rocked the crypto world in 2022.
Hirsch’s resignation was followed by a rumor that he had joined Pump.Fun, a memecoin launch platform, as head of trading. Pump.Fun had posted about Hirsch’s supposed hiring on social media site X.
But when it was brought to his attention via LinkedIn comment, Hirsch shut it down: “This claim by pumpdotfun is false.”
Hirsch wrote on LinkedIn he’s “excited for a break and travel with my family before my son heads to college in the fall.”
