She was speaking during a live recording of the "Trillions" podcast that was part of the "Bloomberg ETFs in Depth" event in New York.
"So, the fact that we haven't done it yet is a mystery to me and trying to read the tea leaves is probably just as hard for me — or almost as hard for me — as it is for all of you," said the commissioner, who participated in the event virtually.
Katie Greifeld, an anchor and reporter at Bloomberg, asked Peirce about recent chatter regarding whether the SEC will give its blessing to in-kind redemptions or whether it will require cash redemptions for spot bitcoin ETFs.
"The sort of conversation there being that the SEC wouldn't want broker-dealers to actually be handling bitcoin itself and for that reason maybe that they would favor cash," Greifeld said. "Can you bring us into any of that thinking?"
Peirce said she couldn't speculate on whether it will be cash or in-kind.
Joel Weber, editor, Bloomberg Businessweek, said he sensed tension between Peirce and some of the other commissioners regarding approval of a spot bitcoin ETF.
"What shortcomings has this process revealed to you," Weber asked. "Like you mentioned, you've been a fan of this idea … for five years, so do you feel like there should be a change to how the SEC operates in this space?"
Peirce said the SEC's structure is one that she really likes, and she believes it's good to have a variety of perspectives.
"What I do think the SEC needs to change is its attitude towards all things crypto and blockchain," Peirce said, adding that to her it seems "a little bit ridiculous that we take a position that the moment something involves crypto or blockchain we start applying standards that are different."
It's the SEC's job to scrutinize things, she said, adding that "there are a lot of things that have happened in the name of crypto and blockchain that have been basically theft."
"But we do owe it to people to apply the same … standard to these products as we do to others," Peirce said.