Robinhood Markets Receives Wells Enforcement Notice from SEC

Retail trading platform Robinhood Market revealed it received an enforcement action notice, or a “Wells notice,” from the SEC. 

Robinhood Market announced on Monday that it received a so-called Wells notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over crypto tokens traded on its platform. 

SEC Plans to Bring Enforcement Against Robinhood Markets

According to reports from news agency Reuters, the retail trading platform Robinhood Markets, revealed it received Wells notice from the SEC on Monday. The SEC issues a Wells notice when it plans to bring an enforcement action against an entity. Wells notices, however, do not mean the company has engaged in wrongdoing. An 8-K filing explains that staff at the SEC recommended that the agency take action against the company. 

Dan Gallagher, chief legal, compliance and corporate affairs officer at the company, said:

“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 facts and the law.” 

The Wells notice reportedly follows Robinhood’s cooperation with the agency over inquiries into its cryptocurrency listings, custody of cryptocurrencies and the operations of Robinhood Crypto. 

The SEC’s notice to Robinhood regarding crypto tokens traded on its platform comes after it decided to delist digital tokens, including Solana, Cardano and Polygon, in 2023. The securities agency undertook a crusade against the crypto industry in 2023 and filed a lawsuit against leading crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance.

In both matters, the agency alleged the exchanges acted as unregistered brokers and accused them of trading unregistered securities, deeming eleven tokens as securities. The accusations prompted Robinhood to act preemptively, ending its support for the so-called securities on June 27, 2023. 

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev assured customers the company would “use its resources to contest this matter in court” if necessary. 

While we strive to maintain positive and productive relationships with our regulators, if necessary we will use our resources to contest this matter in the courts, with the intent of both defending our crypto business and establishing regulatory clarity in the United States for…

— Vlad Tenev (@vladtenev) May 6, 2024

The SEC has been accused of overreaching several times and has not commented on the Wells notice. 

In March 2023, the SEC served Coinbase with a similar notice over an unspecified portion of its listed digited assets, Coinbase Earn, Coinbase Prime, and Coinbase Wallet. Coinbase called the SEC out for its “unfair and unreasonable” approach to the exchange and its operations. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. 

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