Dems' midterm wins could unleash probes of crypto, Wall Street — SkimNews
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- Polling suggests Democrats are poised to win the House and have an edge in the race for the Senate, which would give the party subpoena power, larger investigative staffs and the ability to call agency heads and corporate CEOs to testify.
- House Democrats are preparing to investigate President Trump's and his family's ties to the crypto and prediction market industries, calling such dealings a conflict of interest, Reuters reported.
- Representative Ro Khanna (House Oversight Committee) told Reuters Democrats "absolutely" need to examine crypto transactions to see if national security has been compromised, flagging concerns that prediction markets let government insiders broadcast confidential information.
- Crypto executives worry Representative Sean Casten may challenge Maxine Waters for the chair of the House Financial Services Committee; Casten introduced a 2024 bill curbing crypto tools he said aid money laundering and voted against the industry's Clarity Act in 2025.
- Senator Elizabeth Warren, seen as the frontrunner to chair the Senate Banking Committee if Democrats win, has recently focused her criticism on AI companies' special access to the administration and their influence over policy.
- Reputational damage is the bigger hazard: shares of online trading platform Webull dropped to a near four-month low after a congressional panel published a report probing its ties to China, illustrating how oversight creates adverse headlines even without formal subpoenas.
Why it matters: A Democratic flip of either chamber puts subpoena power in the hands of veteran Wall Street critics Elizabeth Warren and possibly Sean Casten, opening formal probes into the Trump family's crypto and prediction market ties and forcing testimony from bank CEOs and agency chiefs. The administration's regulatory relief for Wall Street continues regardless of who wins, but for companies the bigger risk is headline damage — Webull's near four-month stock low after a single congressional report shows what disclosure can do.
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