Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Robinhood Crypto has received a Wells Notice from the United States SEC.
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The regulator informed the company that it intends to file an enforcement action over alleged securities violations.
SEC Serves Robinhood Crypto with a Wells Notice
Robinhood Crypto, the crypto unit of the brokerage firm Robinhood Markets, received a Wells Notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the weekend.
The regulatory agency informed the trading platform that it would recommend an enforcement action against the crypto unit, alleging securities violations. In a statement by Dan Gallagher, Chief Legal, Compliance and Corporate Affairs Officer, Robinhood Markets, the company said,
“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. 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.”
The SEC has been going after cryptocurrency companies. Last month, decentralized exchange Uniswap, received a Wells Notice from the regulatory agency. At the time, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams said the SEC focuses on attacking good actors in the crypto space rather than working to create clear and informed rules.
The SEC also issued an investigative subpoena to Robinhood Markets last year for listing cryptocurrencies on its platform.
Ethereum development studio Consensys also received a Wells Notice from the SEC last month. The firm has since then sued the SEC, adding that the SEC regulating ether as a security would jeopardize the U.S.'s ability to use Ethereum and other blockchains.
