By Anindita Nayak
Bhubaneswar, 7 May
Robinhood, the US-based new-age trading firm, has said that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may imminently initiate enforcement action against it crypto platform.
In an exchange filing on Monday, Robinhood revealed that it received a warning from the regulator over the weekend which indicated that upon conclusion of an investigation, the company could face charges.
“After years of good faith attempts to work with the SEC for regulatory clarity including our well-known attempt to ‘come in and register,’ we are disappointed that the agency has decided to issue a Wells Notice related to our U.S. crypto business,” wrote Dan Gallagher, Robinhood’s chief legal, compliance and corporate affairs officer, in a blog post.
“We firmly believe that the assets listed on our platform are not securities and we look forward to engaging with the SEC to make clear just how weak any case against Robinhood Crypto would be on both the facts and the law,” Gallagher said.
In February, Robinhood disclosed that it had received subpoenas from the SEC concerning its crypto business, including cryptocurrency listings, custody, and platform operations. Monday’s filing shows up that the SEC has identified potential violations of securities law by Robinhood.
“The potential action may involve a civil injunctive action, public administrative proceeding, and/or a cease-and-desist proceeding and may seek remedies that include an injunction, a cease-and-desist order, disgorgement, pre-judgment interest, civil money penalties, and censure, revocation, and limitations on activities.” the filing said further.
Robinhood will announce its quarterly earnings on Wednesday.
