SEC Chair Paul Atkins has defended the agency’s enforcement shift as lawmakers question why Justin Sun’s case was paused.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins is facing scrutiny from lawmakers as the agency moves to reshape its cryptocurrency regulatory framework.
Democrats are questioning potential links between industry actors and President Donald Trump amid a broader decline in enforcement actions.
SEC Scrutinized Over Tron Case
During a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Democratic members zeroed in on the SEC’s decision to pause its case against Tron founder Justin Sun. Representative Maxine Waters pointed to what she described as a sweeping rollback of prior crypto enforcement actions after Trump entered the White House and new SEC leadership took over last year.
Waters referenced the regulator’s 2023 lawsuit against Sun, in which he was accused of organizing the unregistered sale of crypto securities tied to the TRX and BTT tokens and manipulating trading volumes.
Later in February 2025, the SEC asked the federal court overseeing the case to issue a stay, which paused the proceedings. Since that decision, Sun has become a major financial supporter of Trump-linked crypto ventures, purchasing billions of WLFI tokens, making him the largest backer of World Liberty Financial.
Waters also highlighted a more recent claim by his alleged former girlfriend, who publicly suggested she possesses evidence of TRX manipulation.
Atkins declined to address specifics of the case, telling lawmakers he could not comment on individual enforcement matters. He added that he would be open to further discussion in a confidential setting “to the extent the rules allow me to do that.”
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When asked whether the agency ever acts to protect investors in ways that could negatively affect Trump-affiliated businesses, he responded, “As far as what the Trump family does or not, I can’t speak to that.”
Trump’s Ties to Binance
Lawmakers also raised concerns about other high-profile litigation the SEC dropped last year, including cases against Binance, Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood.
In May 2025, the financial watchdog ended its lawsuit against Binance, which it had sued in 2023 for offering unlicensed services and misrepresenting trading controls. Trump later also pardoned Zhao, while a stablecoin issued by WLF was used by an Abu Dhabi investment firm for a $2 billion investment in Binance.
“Explain to me how this happens without any enforcement action,” Representative Stephen Lynch said. “The reputational damage that the SEC is suffering right now is unbelievable. And you’re in the seat, sir. It’s your responsibility. I’m just asking for an explanation.”
The SEC Chair defended the regulator, saying it has a “robust enforcement effort” and continues to bring cases. However, data from Cornerstone Research shows that its overall legal actions fell 30% in 2025, while crypto-related cases dropped 60%.
Atkins, who became the organization’s chair in April 2025 after Gary Gensler’s departure, is known for criticizing the previous aggressive approach and framing his leadership as a move away from litigation-heavy tactics.
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Trump-backed DeFi project World Liberty Financial has blacklisted an address linked to Justin Sun after it reportedly transferred some of its WLFI tokens, sparking allegations of market manipulation.
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World Liberty Financial Blacklists Justin Sun
On Thursday, World Liberty Financial reportedly blacklisted the Tron founder’s address following his recent movements of his WLFI holdings and multiple online accusations that he was selling.
According to Arkham data, Sun claimed 600 million WLFI tokens at the Token Generation Event (TGE), valued at $200 million at the time, as 20% of the 100 billion tokens were unlocked.
The Tron founder was one of the earliest investors in World Liberty Financial in 2024 and was recognized as the top holder of US President Donald Trump’s official memecoin, TRUMP, earlier this year.
On September 1, he shared his conviction on the token, affirming that WLFI “will be one of the biggest and most important projects in crypto.” He also stated that he had “no plans to sell our unlocked tokens anytime soon. The long-term vision here is too powerful, and I’m fully aligned with the mission.”
Nonetheless, multiple on-chain analysis platforms revealed that Sun had started to move his unlocked tokens, sparking rumors that he was selling. On-chain data showed that he had sent 4.9 million WLFI to crypto exchange HTX, owned by the Tron Founder, over the past two days.
Sun reportedly transferred 50 million tokens, worth $9.12 million, to a new wallet on Thursday morning, “likely to be deposited into HTX.” Meanwhile, Wu Blockchain noted that over the past 32 hours, HTX address “HTX 48” transferred approximately 60,000,000 WLFI tokens to Binance deposit address 0xf387D7…29FcB5.
Sun Denies WLFI Selling Accusations
Following the $9 million move, “World Liberty Financial’s controlling address 0x407F…5178 called the guardianSetBlacklistStatus function on the WLFI Token contract, blacklisting the address 0x5AB2…DA74, which is associated with Justin Sun,” Wu Blockchain explained.
WLFI’s controlling address blacklists Justin Sun-linked address. Source: Wu Blockchain on X
The action froze Sun’s unlocked and 2.4 billion locked WLFI tokens. Tron’s founder responded to the accusations on X, stating that his address just conducted “a few test deposits on exchanges with very low amounts, followed by an address distribution.”
He added that these tests “did not involve any trading activities and could not have impacted the market in any way,” but did not comment on the blacklist. At the time of writing, World Liberty Financial has not addressed the situation.
WLFI’s Price Hits New Low
The news comes as WLFI’s price struggles just three days after launching. Earlier today, the token hit an all-time low (ATL) of $0.16 before bouncing to the $0.18 mark. This performance represents a 20% decline over the past 24 hours and a nearly 45% drop from its all-time high (ATH) of $0.33.
Market watcher Daan Crypto Trades noted that the cryptocurrency has broken down from a triangle formation, where the price was compressing for the past two days. According to the trader, WLFI saw a “quick acceleration as expected” and “even gave a nice retest before the continuation down.”
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Meanwhile, analyst Ali Martinez suggested that te bottom might not be in, highlighting that the token now risks a 25%-50% drop after losing the $0.20 area as support.
WLFI’s performance on the three-day chart. Source: WLFIUSDT on TradingView
Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
Tron is currently seeing historic levels of trader interest on the backdrop of a newly launched meme coin deployer and price pump.
According to Santiment, TRX has emerged as the top trending asset in the crypto market, fueled by the debut of – SunPump – on August 12th.
Tron’s Meme Coin Boom
Since the launch, over 7,000 new coins have been created, helping to fuel the interest in the blockchain’s native token. As a result, TRX’s market price soared by 22%, which briefly neared $0.17. This surge has sparked long-term optimism, with analysts predicting mid-term bullish momentum despite short-term volatility, as per Santiment’s latest analysis.
The spike in Tron network activity, particularly in meme coin launches, has led to increased TRX burns, reflecting heightened demand and a shrinking supply. The platform’s growing status as a hub for meme coins, exemplified by the popularity of tokens like SUNDOG, has drawn parallels to past meme seasons that saw massive price rallies.
Additionally, ongoing developments and partnerships, including collaborations with hedge funds, are expected to boost visibility and trading volume for Tron-based tokens. Santiment also pointed out that Tron founder Justin Sun’s influence and reputation further boost investor confidence, driving the project’s potential for growth.
SunPump Growth Trajectory
Data compiled by Dune Analytics revealed that SunPump has generated over $1.14 million in revenue since its launch. On August 20, Sun shared on X that the platform went offline due to overwhelming traffic, prompting developers to scale up their operations to restore service quickly. The platform was back online within an hour.
That same day, SunPump recorded its highest revenue yet, earning nearly 2.78 million TRX.
Despite the backlash of meme coin resurgence this year and the subsequent scams and rug pulls, Sun remains optimistic on meme coins and said that he believes the success of these tokens “isn’t by chance.”
“When every dev can build a community through a fair launch, gain everyone’s support, and foster enthusiasm and loyalty, the community can share in the success of the cryptocurrency. Who would still pay for tokens with absurd valuations pumped up by VCs to billions of USD? Even the smallest growth of a meme token brings joy and satisfaction to everyone because, with a community and decentralization, you have everything.”
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In a shift within the cryptocurrency exchange landscape, HTX has surpassed Coinbase in spot trading volumes for the first time.
This milestone was announced by Justin Sun, the founder of the TRON blockchain and a global advisor for HTX, via a post on the social media platform X on May 27.
Sun Declares it’s ‘Just the Beginning’
Sun outlined the significant milestone, affirming that HTX has surpassed Coinbase in spot trading volume for the first time. He expressed confidence in the trajectory, emphasizing that this achievement marks only the platform’s initial stages of growth.
— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) May 27, 2024
Based on CoinGecko data, HTX presently manages around $2.4 billion in daily spot trading volumes, solidifying its position as one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, trailing only behind Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Gate.io.
Coinbase, a leading U.S.-based exchange, oversees approximately $2 billion in daily spot trading volumes, placing it behind HTX and Bitrue.
HTX, formerly known as Huobi, is one of the oldest and largest cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide. In September 2023, the platform rebranded to HTX to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Two months ago, HTX made headlines by pledging to donate all Slerf trading revenue on HTX Global. This philanthropic initiative aimed to compensate private sale participants and support Slerf’s trading fee mining on HTX.
Meanwhile, Justin Sun’s active involvement with HTX has been a topic of discussion in the crypto community. Recently, he disclosed his personal HTX wallet holdings on X. This followed discussions and skepticism about his active use and support of HTX despite his significant role as a global advisor within the company.
Coinbase’s Legal Challenges
Coinbase’s decline in exchange volume rankings comes amid the company navigating various legal challenges in the United States.
In June 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a securities violation lawsuit against Coinbase. The lawsuit alleges that the firm operates as an unregistered exchange, broker, and clearing agency.
Despite a motion to dismiss the case being denied in March 2024, Coinbase continues to fight to prove its point. On May 24, the exchange filed a memorandum supporting its interlocutory appeal, seeking to challenge a specific ruling in the ongoing case.
The U.S. Supreme Court also recently ruled against Coinbase in a dispute related to a $1.2 million Dogecoin sweepstakes from 2021. These legal hurdles have likely impacted the exchange’s trading volumes, providing HTX with an opportunity to rise in the rankings.
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Binance founder CZ must stay in US until sentencing, judge orders
Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has been ordered to stay in the United States until his sentencing in February, with a federal judge determining there’s too much of a flight risk if the former crypto exchange CEO is allowed to return to the United Arab Emirates. On Dec. 7, Seattle District Court Judge Richard Jones ordered Zhao to stay in the U.S. until his Feb. 23, 2024 sentencing date. He faces up to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to money laundering on Nov. 21 and has agreed not to appeal any potential sentence up to that length.
House committee passes bill to ‘preserve US leadership’ in blockchain
A United States Congress committee has unanimously passed a pro-blockchain bill, which would task the U.S. commerce secretary with promoting blockchain deployment and thus potentially increase the country’s use of blockchain technology. The act covers an array of actions the commerce secretary must take if passed, including making best practices, policies and recommendations for the public and private sector when using blockchain tech. The bill will now go to the House for a vote. If passed, it must also pass in the Senate before returning for final congressional and presidential approval.
SEC pushes deadline to decide on Grayscale spot Ether ETF
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision on whether to approve or reject a spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering from asset manager Grayscale. In a notice, the SEC said it would designate a longer period for considering a proposed rule change that would allow NYSE Arca to list and trade shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Trust. Grayscale first filed with the SEC to convert shares of its Grayscale Ethereum Trust into a spot Ether ETF in October, adding its name to the list of companies awaiting a decision from the regulator.
Elon Musk’s xAI files with SEC for private sale of $1B in unregistered securities
Elon Musk’s X-linked artificial intelligence modeler, xAI, has an agreement for the private sale of $865.3 million in unregistered equity securities, according to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission made on Dec. 5. The company is seeking to raise $1 billion. XAI’s product, a chatbot called Grok, has recently rolled out to X’s Premium+ subscribers. Musk announced the launch of xAI in July and claimed its goal was to “understand the universe.”
Bitcoin new high set for late 2024, Binance to lose top spot — VanEck
Bitcoin will hit a new all-time high in late 2024 because of a long-feared United States recession and regulatory shifts after the next U.S. presidential election, asset manager VanEck predicts. The firm is confident that the first spot Bitcoin ETFs will be approved in the first quarter of 2024. However, it also made a gloomy prediction for the general U.S. economy. VanEck is among several firms, including BlackRock and Fidelity, that are vying for an approved spot Bitcoin ETF. VanEck also believes that the BTC halving, due in April or May, “will see minimal market disruption,” but there will be a post-halving price rise.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $44,402, Ether (ETH) at $2,364 and XRP at $0.66. The total market cap is at $1.65 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Bonk (BONK) at 203.10%, ORDI (ORDI) at 134.34% and BitTorrent (BTT) at 114.32%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are Maker (MKR) at -6.48%, UNUS SED LEO (LEO) at -6.22% and Kaspa (KAS) at 4.98%.
“It takes a community and the whole industry to figure out how to better educate people. That’s the hard part. It’s not a technology issue; it’s an operational problem.”
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Dec. 7, entrepreneur Alistair Milne noted that should current performance continue, Bitcoin will witness a crossover of two weekly moving averages (MAs), which have never delivered such a bull signal before.
The 50-week and 200-week MAs are key trendlines for Bitcoin traders and analysts alike. The latter is the ultimate bear market support level, and it has so far never decreased in value.
BTC price strength is on the way to taking the 50-week MA trendline above the 200-week counterpart. Known as a “golden cross,” on lower timeframes, this is considered a classic bullish signal, and for Milne, the impetus is that considerable upside could be in store should the phenomenon play out.
“The 50-week moving average will now soon cross back above the 200-week MA making a ‘golden cross’ for the 1st time. QED: Early bull market,” he wrote.
FUD of the Week
Crypto is for criminals? JPMorgan has been fined $39B and has its own token
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is being criticized by the crypto community after claiming Bitcoin and cryptocurrency’s “only true use case” is to facilitate crime. However, according to Good Jobs First’s violation tracker, JPMorgan is the second-largest penalized bank, having paid $39.3 billion in fines across 272 violations since 2000. About $38 billion of these fines came under Dimon’s watch, who has been CEO since 2005.
British regulator adds Justin Sun-linked Poloniex to warning list after $100M hack
The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has added crypto exchange Poloniex to its warning list of non-authorized companies. The Seychelles-based exchange is one of the three companies owned by or affiliated with entrepreneur Justin Sun that have suffered four hacks in the last two months. The warning to Poloniex was published on the FCA’s website on Dec. 6. It doesn’t offer a reason but says that “firms and individuals cannot promote financial services in the UK without the necessary authorization or approval.”
US senators target crypto in bill enforcing sanctions on terrorist groups
A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the United States Senate introduced legislation aimed at countering cryptocurrency’s role in financing terrorism, explicitly citing the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. The bill would expand U.S. sanctions to include parties funding terrorist organizations with cryptocurrency or fiat. According to Senator Mitt Romney, the legislation would allow the U.S. Treasury Department to go after “emerging threats involving digital assets.”
Lawmakers’ fear and doubt drives proposed crypto regulations in US
If the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act were to become law, many cryptocurrency providers would have to learn how to comply with the same regulations as traditional financial institutions.
Expect ‘records broken’ by Bitcoin ETF: Brett Harrison (ex-FTX US), X Hall of Flame
HTX and Poloniex are about to resume deposits and withdrawals, and Justin Sun announced an airdrop for affected users.
Following the recent cybersecurity breaches of HTX and Poloniex, Justin Sun has announced an “epic airdrop” for users with assets on these platforms. The move comes as a gesture of goodwill and support to those affected by the hacks.
As HTX and Poloniex approach opening deposit and withdrawal, we will initiate an epic airdrop for users with assets. Please stay tuned! My deepest apologies to the users affected by the hacker attacks on HTX and Poloniex. We will cover the loss and All assets are are SAFE.
The airdrop is part of a broader strategy to mitigate the financial impact on users after Poloniex’s hot wallets were compromised, leading to an estimated loss of $114 million. Additionally, HTX faced a $30 million loss in a security breach on Nov. 22. These incidents are among a series of attacks that have targeted Sun-related businesses over the past months, with the largest being the Poloniex exchange exploit, where hackers stole approximately $100 million due to a private key compromise earlier in November.
In response to the Poloniex attack, Sun has also offered a 5% deal to the attackers, effectively providing a “white-hat bounty” for the return of the stolen funds. This unconventional approach indicates Sun’s commitment to addressing the challenges posed by such security breaches.
Both HTX and Poloniex are also preparing to resume normal operations, with plans to reopen deposits and withdrawals.
Poloniex is gearing up to resume deposit and withdrawal services on its platform less than a week after a massive security breach. In the latest update, Poloniex stated that the majority of the restoration work has been finished, and the cryptocurrency exchange is currently functioning without issues.
The platform disclosed its collaboration with a leading security auditing firm in the industry and is currently in the final phases of the security audit and verification process.
Once the audit is successfully concluded, Poloniex said that it will promptly reinstate deposit and withdrawal services.
The evaluation process is currently underway and is expected to last several more days, according to the official blog post.
“In response to your concerns about Poloniex deposit and withdrawal services, we are pleased to announce that the restoration efforts have mostly been completed, and the platform is now operating smoothly.”
Poloniex was hacked on November 10th by unknown attackers who specifically targeted the platform’s hot wallets, draining $125 million in 175 different cryptocurrencies.
Tron founder Justin Sun, who acquired Poloniex in 2019, acknowledged the security breach in a public statement and announced a 5% white hat bounty, encouraging the attacker to return the stolen funds.
The exec had also revealed that the perpetrators targeted various wallets across multiple blockchains, demonstrating a sophisticated strategy.
According to blockchain analytics company Nansen, Poloniex’s wallet now holds only 175 tokens, equivalent to a mere $10,000.
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The Justin Sun Group, including TRON, HTX, Poloniex and TUSD, reported a 14% increase in revenue from the previous quarter.
Sun suggests that the ability to sustain revenue growth in these adverse conditions presents a more promising fourth quarter as the market displays signs of recovery.
Better conditions to come
In a post on X dated Oct. 26, Sun shares that following the third quarter of 2023, actual revenue was $202 million, with profits being estimated at $98 million. Based on these numbers, the Group’s estimate for revenue in the next quarter is now projected at $190 million, which would suggest profits of $104 million.
Sun surmises an optimistic fourth quarter due to the third quarter being plagued with formidable challenges in the industry, including a backdrop of high-interest rates set by the Federal Reserve, which led to a decline in the industry’s overall revenue.
The TRON founder goes on to state that his group is holding the view that the most challenging times are now behind them. With the impending approval of the Bitcoin ETF on the horizon, Sun believes the crypto market is poised for a resurgence in the coming Q4 and Q1 of 2024.
A huge shift
Justin Sun’s comments on X coincide with analysts of the Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley, who have said the Bitcoin and crypto winter could finally be over.
After seeing prices collapse since late 2021, the price of Bitcoin, the number one cryptocurrency by trading volume, has rocketed to over $30,000, in what is believed to be a huge shift moving forward.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced charges today against eight celebrities for “illegally touting TRX and/or BTT without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so and the amount of their compensation.”
Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, Akon, Lil Yachty, and adult film star Kendra Lust were among the big names who agreed to pay a $400,000 settlement for their involvement in a shady crypto scheme.
None of them admitted guilt.
The charges were part of a broader investigation into crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and his companies, Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT).
According to a complaint filed in federal court in New York, Sun committed securities law violations by offering cryptocurrencies that were not correctly registered. Sun also engaged in “wash trading,” which, according to the SEC, “involves the simultaneous or near-simultaneous purchase and sale of a security to make it appear actively traded without an actual change in beneficial ownership.”
From April 2018 to February 2019, Sun had his employees “engage in more than 600,000 wash trades of TRX between two crypto asset trading platform accounts he controlled,” according to the SEC.
Illegal promotion by celebs
Sun also paid celebrities such as Paul and Lohan to promote his unregistered crypto offerings “while specifically directing that they not disclose their compensation,” said the SEC in a statement.
“This is the very conduct that the federal securities laws were designed to protect against,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
But a spokesperson for Lohan told Variety, “Lindsay was contacted in March 2022 and was unaware of the disclosure requirement. She agreed to pay a fine to resolve the matter.”
The collapse of Sun’s crypto empire is the latest bad news for crypto investors and the celebrities that endorse them.
Tom Brady and Kevin O’Leary were some of the high-profile names caught up in the FTX scandal, rumored to have lost much money due to the crypto exchange’s financial ruin. They have not been charged with any crimes.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges Wednesday against actor Lindsay Lohan, boxer Jake Paul and a group of rappers and R&B stars, including Soulja Boy, Akon and Lil Yachty.
