Cicely LaMothe, Deputy Director of the Corporate Finance Division at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has announced her retirement. She played a crucial role in crypto regulation over the past year, including issuing clarifications stating that Memecoin is not a security and outlining the SEC's regulatory stance on staking. LaMothe joined the SEC in 2002 and was involved in key work such as drafting registration and filing policies. Her departure comes in the second year of the SEC's more favorable approach to the crypto industry. During this period, the SEC approved listing standards for some crypto-asset-related ETFs, dropped several enforcement cases against prominent crypto companies, and advanced Project Crypto to update the regulatory framework for digital assets. In addition, the SEC confirmed that Nekia Hackworth Jones, Deputy Director of Enforcement for the Southeast, completed her term at the end of December.