Bitrabo Editorial
The regulatory climate for cryptocurrency continues to get murkier in the United States, and as a result, leading brokerage firms like Robinhood are re-evaluating their crypto offerings. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently taken steps to crack down on two major cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and Coinbase, over their unregistered securities offerings on their platforms.
Following these developments, Robinhood Markets is reportedly reviewing its cryptocurrency offerings, according to a June 6 report by Bloomberg. The chief legal officer of Robinhood Markets, Dan Gallagher, testified before the US Congress’ House Committee of Agriculture on June 6, stating the company wants to review the SEC’s analysis before deciding on the next course of action.
Robinhood Legal Chief Testifies At A Congress Hearing On Crypto Regulation
Dan Gallagher testified before Congress’s House Agriculture Committee, which gathered to discuss “The Future of Digital Assets: Providing Clarity for Digital Assets Spot Markets.” Christopher Giancarlo, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s legal chief, and Rostin Behnam, CFTC chairman, were all present at the hearing as well.
When he spoke at the hearing, Gallagher told the committee that Robinhood is “actively reviewing the SEC’s analysis to determine what actions to take, if any.”
A Quick Peek into SEC’s Lawsuits and Potential Implications
Recently, the SEC filed lawsuits against the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance Holdings, and the largest crypto trading platform in the US, Coinbase Global, claiming that they had listed over a dozen crypto assets without registering them as securities. As a result, the total value of digital assets labeled as unregistered securities by the SEC is now over $120 billion.
The SEC also accused Coinbase of running an illegal crypto exchange, alleging the firm intentionally chose not to register its services, leaving investors at risk. Similarly, the regulator filed charges against Binance, claiming the exchange violated securities laws by allowing US customers to trade on Binance.com, despite the prohibition of such services, and commingling billions in user funds to a European company controlled by CEO Changpeng Zhao.
The implications of the lawsuit could potentially affect the crypto assets tagged securities by the SEC on other platforms. Robinhood is currently reviewing its cryptocurrency offerings, which currently only provides around 18 tokens for investment, some of which the SEC labelled as securities in its recent lawsuits. Whether Robinhood decides to delist these tokens or register them accordingly remains uncertain.
Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com