As Democrats gain in odds to take U.S. House, Waters bashes SEC chair on crypto

With Democrats favored at 75% to win the U.S. House of Representatives majority in 2026 on prediction market Kalshi, Representative Maxine Waters’ new criticism of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins’ crypto policies could gain more energy.

Though Congress remains on its winter break, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee called Monday for Atkins to testify before the committee, where she wants him to answer for the dismissal of significant digital assets industry enforcement actions.

"The SEC has terminated or stayed major enforcement actions against multiple crypto companies and individuals that had been credibly accused of major violations of our securities laws, including Coinbase, Binance, and Justin Sun," Waters wrote in a letter sent to the panel's Republican chairman, Representative French Hill. "The committee has not scrutinized the SEC’s rationale for abandoning these matters, nor how the agency intends to deter fraud and manipulation in markets touching millions of retail investors."

Waters argued that some of the companies freed from SEC cases announced the terminations before the commission actually voted on them, and she contended that Atkins' office "took an unusually active role in negotiating an end to these cases."Read More: Most Influential: Paul Atkins

The SEC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from CoinDesk.

After the start of President Donald Trump's administration, a leadership change at the agency — and the eventual confirmation of Atkins as its chairman — led to the regulator abandoning a lengthy list of legal battles it had waged with the crypto industry. Almost all of its pending cases were dropped, and it backed out of several ongoing court disputes.

Trump has made it his mission to boost the U.S. crypto industry, and Atkins has declared that same mission the top priority at the SEC, which was established as an independent federal regulator not meant to operate under the direct management of the White House.

Waters, who has at times been an active negotiator on crypto legislation while also sharing industry criticism, said Atkins "frames the agency’s agenda as an instrument of the administration." She also noted its many policy shifts have been executed through staff statements rather than formal rules. That's routinely been the case for the crypto industry, which has enthusiastically embraced many of these statements as clarifying the agency's position in the absence of clear digital assets laws. "This approach flouts the SEC’s legal obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act, excludes the vital role public comment provides in identifying issues, and hides from congressional and public view precisely what interests are influencing SEC decision-making, so that we cannot weigh the motives of those parties molding SEC policy," said Waters, who requested that Atkins come to testify before the House panel.

Read More: U.S. SEC chief warns watchdogs need to be limited in tapping crypto's power to snoop