U.S. Representative Maxine Waters called for a hearing with Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins to highlight her concerns about the agency’s dismissal of the cryptocurrency case and nine other issues.
In a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill on Sunday, Waters argued that hearings highlighting “questionable policy changes” at the SEC are long overdue.
“Chairman Gensler testified before the Committee twice in his first year in office. Despite his clear mandate to oversee the SEC, and despite the SEC’s rapid, significant, and questionable policy shifts under the Trump administration, the Committee has never held a hearing with Chairman Atkins,” she wrote.
Waters outlined 10 issues he believes need to be addressed at the Oversight Council, including the denial of major crypto enforcement actions, the independence and politicization of the SEC, and the weakening of market oversight.
She claimed that the SEC had “ceased or halted major enforcement actions against multiple crypto companies and individuals who were credibly accused of serious violations of securities laws, including Coinbase, Binance, and Justin Sun,” adding:
“In some of these cases, defendants announced that the SEC had terminated enforcement actions even before the Commission actually voted.”
Mr Waters said the FSC needed to scrutinize the agency to determine exactly its “intent to deter fraud and manipulation”.
Atkins was appointed by President Donald Trump and took over from former chairman Gary Gensler in April. During his tenure, the SEC has taken a friendlier approach to cryptocurrencies, including shelving lawsuits and investigations, loosening rules for crypto exchange-traded funds, and taking an aggressive stance on crypto regulation with Project Crypto.
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Mr. Waters is passionate about preventing virtual currency “scams”
This is not the first time Waters has criticized the cryptocurrency industry and the Republican Party’s approach to it. In October, she expressed anger over the pardon of Binance co-founder Zhao Changpeng.
In mid-July, Waters also wrote an opinion piece warning against major cryptocurrency frameworks such as the CLARITY Act and the GENIUS Act, saying they “open the floodgates to massive fraud and financial ruin.”
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