Robinhood is the latest firm to draw the ire of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . This weekend, it reported receiving a– an announcement that the securities watchdog is building a case and intends to sue. In an 8-K filing, the fintech firm revealed it received the letter from the SEC’s enforcement division for alleged securities violations.
Further, in heeding “the SEC’s calls,” Robinhood attempted to register as a special purpose broker-dealer with the agency.
The SEC now spends a disproportionate amount of time and money pursuing legal challenges against crypto firms both large and small. The agency has filedper month since last November against a crypto company, the majority of which go unnoticed and typically end in a settlement. “Congress should enact new legislation to avoid legal pitfalls, but it’s unclear to me whether they actually will,” Baumann added. Gensler, for his part, has stated directly that he doesn’t think crypto needs bespoke legislation or guidance, given his view that everything crypto, bar bitcoin, walks and talks like securities.