Democratic Representative Maxine Waters criticized the SEC chairman's crypto policies and called for a hearing.

Prediction market Kalshi predicts a 75% probability that Democrats will win a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026. Against this backdrop, Maxine Waters, the senior Democratic member of the House Financial Services Committee, has issued sharper criticisms of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins's policies on cryptocurrency regulation. In a letter to the committee's Republican chairman, French Hill, Waters stated that the SEC has terminated or suspended several important enforcement cases targeting the crypto industry, involving companies such as Coinbase, Binance, and Justin Sun. She pointed out that the committee has not adequately examined the SEC's reasons for abandoning these cases, nor how it will prevent fraud and manipulation in markets targeting large retail investors. Waters also claimed that some of the companies involved announced the termination of their cases before the SEC's formal vote and questioned the "unusually active" role played by Atkins' team in the settlement process. She believes that the SEC's recent policy shift, primarily through staff statements rather than informal rules, may circumvent the Administrative Procedure Act, weakening public comment and congressional oversight, and therefore demands that Atkins appear at a hearing to explain. The report points out that since the Donald Trump administration took office and completed its leadership change, the SEC has dropped several lawsuits targeting the crypto industry. Atkins has also repeatedly stated publicly that supporting the development of the US crypto industry is a regulatory priority, a stance that is becoming a focus of continued scrutiny and questioning from the Democratic Party. (CoinDesk)