US Rep. Maxine Waters Calls For Oversight Meeting Into SEC’s “Questionable Policy Changes”
US Representative Maxine Waters is calling for a hearing with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins due to concerns about what she believes are “questionable policy changes” at the agency.
“Despite having a clear obligation to oversee the SEC, the Committee has not held a single hearing with Chairman Atkins, despite the agency’s rapid, significant, and questionable policy shifts during the Trump Administration,” she wrote in a Sunday letter to French Hill, the chair of the House Financial Services Committee (FSC).
Waters’ letter to French Hill (Source: House of Representatives)
Waters Questions The SEC’s Decision To Drop Several High-Profile Crypto Cases
Waters outlined ten key points that she believes need to be addressed in the oversight meeting that she is calling for. Among these focus points is the SEC’s move to dismiss major crypto enforcement actions.
That’s after the SEC decided to drop several cases against companies operating in the crypto space, including Ripple, Gemini, and others.
According to Waters, the agency “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.”
“In some of these cases, the defendants had announced that the SEC had terminated enforcement actions even before the Commission had taken the actual vote to do so,” she added.
Other points highlighted by Waters include the independence of the SEC, the potential politicization of the regulator, and weakening market surveillance.
Waters went on to say that the FSC needs to scrutinize the SEC to determine how exactly the agency “intends to deter fraud and manipulation.”
Waters Has A History Of Criticizing The Crypto Industry
This is not the first time Waters has expressed concerns around the digital asset space and the Republican Party’s approach to regulating the industry.
In October, she also expressed outrage at US President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ).
Earlier, in the middle of July, Waters wrote an opinion piece sounding the alarm bells over crypto frameworks such as the CLARITY Act and the GENIUS Act. She argued that these frameworks would “open the floodgates to massive fraud and financial ruin.”
SEC Has Adopted A Friendlier Stance Under Atkins
Atkins was nominated by Trump, and took over from former SEC chair Gary Gensler in April.
Under Gensler, the regulator had adopted a regulation-by-enforcement approach to regulate the digital asset industry in the US. This led to several lawsuits being filed against crypto companies for alleged securities violations.
However, the SEC’s stance towards crypto has pivoted. After taking the lead at the regulator, Atkins has introduced several pro-crypto initiatives along with the agency’s move to drop the aforementioned enforcement actions.
Earlier in the year, Atkins announced the “Project Crypto” initiative, which aims to simplify crypto licensing for firms while also modernizing securities laws for digital assets.
The agency has also taken other steps towards realizing Trump’s vision of making the US the global crypto capital. This includes approving generic listing standards for crypto ETFs (exchange-traded funds).
Atkins has said that he is working on an “innovation exemption” as well, which will give new projects an exemption window to test out new innovations before having to go through the regulatory process.
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