U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs questions SEC Chair Paul Atkins on withdrawn enforcement cases and crypto dismissals

At a U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs hearing, Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren used her opening statement and questioning to challenge Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins over what she characterised as a broad pullback in SEC enforcement and investor protections, including the withdrawal of cases against executives and crypto firms. Warren cited publicly reported data she said showed fewer new enforcement actions and a decline across several categories, and argued the SEC collected less in monetary penalties over the past year than at any point in over a decade. She pressed Atkins on the SEC’s withdrawal of actions involving Devon Archer, Carlos Watson and Trevor Milton after President Trump granted them clemency, with Atkins responding that presidential pardons or clemency can make pursuing cases difficult and confirming the SEC withdrew. Warren also pointed to dismissed SEC matters involving Kraken, Coinbase and Gemini following USD 1 million donations each to Trump’s inauguration, and referenced a USD 2 billion deal involving Binance and a UAE company that she said boosted the Trump family’s stablecoin alongside a dismissed case against Binance, asking Atkins to name any active SEC cases against crypto firms with Trump-linked donations or business ties. Atkins disputed her overall premise, said the SEC had not yet released its enforcement data, and described dropped crypto matters as registration-related.