The U.S. Securities and Change Fee has ended its investigation into buying and selling platform Robinhood Crypto "with no action," the corporate mentioned in an announcement.
Based on the agency, the SEC's Enforcement Division suggested Robinhood Crypto that "it had concluded its investigation and did not intend to move forward with an enforcement action," after sending the corporate a Wells Discover in Could 2024 notifying it of a pending enforcement motion.
An SEC spokesperson instructed Decrypt that the regulator declines to touch upon the matter.
In an announcement, Robinhood Markets' head of authorized and compliance, Dan Gallagher, mentioned that "this investigation should never have been opened," arguing that the agency "never allowed transactions in securities."
"Instead of regulation by enforcement, it's time for the SEC to turn to regulation by regulation—providing market participants with clarity and an appropriate regulatory framework for digital assets," Robinhood added in its assertion.
For a time, Gallagher was floated as a possible alternative for former SEC Chair Gary Gensler. However he made it very clear that it was a nonstarter.
"It is always an honor to have your name in the mix for an incredibly important job like SEC Chairman,” Gallagher told Decrypt in a statement. “However, I have made it clear that I do not wish to be considered for this position.”
The conclusion of the SEC's Robinhood investigation mirrors what the industry has seen in a number of such cases in recent days. Last Friday, the regulator ended its investigation into NFT marketplace OpenSea, just hours after reaching an agreement in principle to drop charges against crypto exchange Coinbase.
Since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the SEC has shifted its stance towards crypto, launching a new task force under crypto-friendly commissioner Hester Peirce, and rescinding its Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 121, which critics argued created unnecessary complexity for crypto platforms.
The called off investigation aligns with promises the president made during his campaign to create a more favorable approach to crypto regulation than the previous administration's "regulation-by-enforcement" technique below former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
Shares in Robinhood noticed a slight bump in premarket buying and selling, up 2.4% per Yahoo Finance, after having closed Friday down 7.9% from open.
Crypto has grow to be more and more essential to Robinhood's enterprise mannequin, with nearly half of its $672 million transaction-based income within the fourth quarter coming from crypto buying and selling—a 700% improve as Bitcoin rallied past $100,000 in line with Trump's electoral victory.
Editor's word: This story was up to date to incorporate remark from the SEC.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
