With Democrats favored by 75% to win the US House majority in 2026 on the Kalshi prediction market, Rep. Maxine Waters’ new criticism of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins’ crypto policies could gain more traction.
Although Congress remains on winter recess, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee on Monday asked Atkins to testify before the committee, where she wants her to answer for the dismissal of major enforcement actions by the digital asset industry.
“The SEC has terminated or suspended significant enforcement actions against multiple cryptocurrency companies and individuals who had been credibly accused of material violations of our securities laws, including Coinbase, Binance, and Justin Sun,” Waters wrote in a letter sent to the panel’s Republican chairman, Rep. French Hill. “The committee has not examined the SEC’s reasons for dropping these matters, nor how the agency intends to deter fraud and manipulation in the markets that affect millions of retail investors.”
Waters argued that some of the companies released from the SEC cases announced the layoffs before the commission voted on them, and maintained that Atkins’ office “took an unusually active role in negotiating to end these cases.”Read more: Most influential: Paul Atkins
The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CoinDesk.
After the start of President Donald Trump’s administration, a change in leadership at the agency (and the eventual confirmation of Atkins as its chairman) led the regulator to abandon a long list of legal battles it had fought with the crypto industry. Nearly all of his pending cases were dropped and he withdrew from several ongoing court disputes.
Trump has made it his mission to boost the US crypto industry, and Atkins has declared that same mission to be the top priority of the SEC, which was established as an independent federal regulator that is not intended to operate under the direct management of the White House.
Waters, who has at times been an active negotiator on cryptocurrency legislation while also sharing industry criticism, said Atkins “frames the agency’s agenda as an instrument of the administration.” He also noted that many policy changes have been executed through staff statements rather than formal rules. That has typically been the case for the crypto industry, which has enthusiastically welcomed many of these statements as clarifications of the agency’s position in the absence of clear digital asset laws. “This approach flouts the SEC’s legal obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act, excludes the vital role that public comment provides in identifying issues, and hides from Congress and the public precisely what interests are influencing SEC decision-making, so that we cannot weigh the motives of those parties shaping SEC policy,” said Waters, who requested that Atkins come to testify before the House panel.
Read more: US SEC chief warns that watchdogs should limit harnessing the power of cryptocurrencies to spy
