Robinhood Evaluates Cryptocurrency Services Amid U.S. SEC Crackdown on Binance and Coinbase

Robinhood is taking proactive measures in response to recent actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Binance and Coinbase. The popular retail brokerage platform is reportedly investigating its cryptocurrency services and carefully reviewing the regulator’s stance to determine its course of action.

The SEC’s recent legal action against Binance and its U.S. affiliates, as well as Changpeng Zhao, resulted in the classification of Binance Coin (BNB) and Binance USD (BUSD) as unregistered securities. Additionally, the SEC ruling identified ten other digital currencies offered by Binance as unregistered securities.

Based on available information, the U.S. SEC deems cryptocurrencies such as Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Filecoin (FIL), Cosmos (ATOM), Sandbox (SAND), Decentraland (MANA), Algorand (ALGO), Axie Infinity (AXS), and Coti (COTI) tokens as unregistered securities. This would bring the total number of cryptocurrencies classified as unregistered securities by the securities regulator to 61.

If the SEC determines that certain cryptocurrencies offered by US-based exchanges, including Robinhood, are unregistered securities, it would be illegal for these exchanges to allow customers to trade those specific cryptocurrencies. To comply with securities regulations, Robinhood may be required to delist these cryptocurrencies if the SEC’s actions are successful. This would involve removing them from the platform and prohibiting customers from trading them until they meet the necessary regulatory requirements.

In March 2023, Robinhood disclosed in its 10-K filing that it received an investigative subpoena from the SEC in December 2022, specifically regarding its Bitcoin listings. The subpoena focused on the platform’s operations and the security measures in place to protect its Bitcoin holdings. The details of the subpoena indicated that the U.S. SEC is interested in obtaining information and clarification on aspects of Robinhood’s cryptocurrency services.

While Robinhood offers Bitcoin trading alongside its stock trading services, it only supports a limited selection of cryptocurrencies, including Solana, Cardano, and Polygon. This limited offering sets them apart from platforms like Binance and Coinbase, which offer a broader range of token offerings.

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