Hester Pierce, a commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said that industry players should learn from the bad experience of last year as they plan to shape the future. Speaking at the Duke Conference for Digital Assets, she told team leads to remember the purpose of cryptocurrencies and to carry the community in line.

“Underlying these lessons is the truth that technology takes time to develop and often must combine with innovative developments in other fields to realize its full potential,” she added.

She stressed that the essence of digital assets is not to drive up prices and abandon them for blind users but should always look to the advantages of the underlying blockchain technology for inspiration. She said the goal was about “solving the trust problem” while transacting with people they don’t know. 

“Traditionally, people have looked to centralized intermediaries or governments to solve this problem, but technology like cryptography, blockchain, and zero-knowledge proofs offer new solutions.”