Senior Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee spent the morning criticizing Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins for dropping several enforcement actions and investigations last year, including an inquiry into the international crypto firm Binance.
Several veteran Democrats urged Atkins not to be soft on white-collar crime, pointing to allegations of wrongdoing everywhere from Binance founder Changpeng Zhao to President Donald Trump. Trump pardoned Zhao last year.
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) asked Atkins to police crypto more closely – for crypto’s sake, if nothing else. “Look, this is hurting the crypto industry, all these scams,” Lynch said. “People are losing trust.”
