US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner Hester Peirce expressed comments that showed her concern that delays by the SEC in determining regulations for cryptocurrency may have hampered progress in the industry.

Nicknamed Crypto Mom for her past words in support of the industry, Peirce was speaking at the Securities Enforcement Forum in East Palo Alto, California, this week. She questioned the continued hesitancy of the SEC to provide clarity for Bitcoin and its peers despite the rapid pace of development. In particular, she said that the issuance of tokens was a problem when deciding if it became a security, especially because existing laws do not cease to apply simply because new products and developments emerge.

She urged the regulator to quickly provide clarity on legal compliance:

“We should not be trying to guide innovation, but we also should recognize that we cannot stop it and embrace the potential for positive change that innovation offers. Our silence is likely to simply push this innovation and any attendant economic growth into other jurisdictions that have done their work and provided clear guidelines for the market participants to follow.”

Back in February, Peirce proposed that a protracted process of US crypto regulation could be positive, allowing more freedom for the industry to mature on its own.