US Representative Maxine Waters has demanded an immediate oversight hearing with Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins over mounting concerns related to the agency’s approach toward crypto enforcement, policymaking transparency, and investor protection.
“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, largely accomplished by unilateral action by the Chairman,” Waters wrote in a letter directed to House Financial Services Committee chair French Hill.
In her letter, Waters outlined ten pressing points that she expects the Committee to address as a matter of priority.
SEC’s approach threatens market integrity
The first issue she raised involves what she described as the “independence and politicization” of the SEC, which she said “threatens market integrity,” particularly in relation to insider trading risks and politically sensitive financial interventions.
“Congress designed the SEC to be independent of the White House. Yet, Chairman Atkins repeatedly frames the agency’s agenda as an instrument of the Administration,” Waters said.
“Reports of suspicious trading preceding the President’s tariff pause, and volatility surrounding interventions in Argentina, raise serious questions about manipulation.”
She questioned whether the Commission is “adequately policing these risks,” and if it is honoring its statutory obligations to maintain regulatory independence.
Waters also claimed that 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.”
According to her, the Chairman’s office played an unusually active role in negotiating an end to these cases, and she called for the Committee to “scrutinize the SEC’s rationale for abandoning these matters,” and look into how the agency plans on deterring fraud and manipulation going forward.
Waters further criticized the SEC’s approach to policymaking, accusing the agency of bypassing formal rulemaking procedures in favor of opaque staff-level decisions.
She said this strategy undermines regulatory transparency and shields key decision-makers from accountability.
“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,” she wrote.
Other concerns she raised in the letter range from the weakening of market surveillance and corporate reporting standards, and the abandonment of climate-risk disclosures, to the erosion of shareholder rights, deregulation of private securities, audit oversight failures, and potential conflicts of interest related to Chairman Atkins’ private-sector background.
As such, she has urged the Financial Services Committee to convene an oversight hearing without delay.
“The Committee’s oversight obligation is not optional. Investors, retirees, and working families deserve transparency and accountability,” Waters concluded.
Atkins, who took over from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler earlier this year, has since taken a more lenient stance in favor of the crypto industry.
Under his leadership, the agency has shelved high-profile enforcement actions, relaxed transparency standards for digital asset funds, and promoted new regulatory tools through initiatives like Project Crypto.
A history of crypto scrutiny
Representative Waters has been a vocal critic of the crypto industry’s regulatory posture on several occasions over the past few years.
Earlier in 2025, Waters and other Democrats organized Anti-Crypto Corruption Week to oppose three Republican-led crypto bills, including the CLARITY Act and the GENIUS Act.
She argued that these bills lack crucial consumer and national security guardrails and would “open the floodgates to massive fraud and financial ruin.”
She has also condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, and has frequently criticized the Trump family’s involvement in cryptocurrency ventures, which she describes as rife with conflicts of interest.
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