Lawsuits filed against cryptocurrency platforms during President Joe Biden's administration continue to fall away as the administration of President Donald Trump has projected a much more lenient stance on cryptocurrency markets.
Robinhood is just the latest company in the mix, announcing on Monday that the Securities and Exchange Commission has closed its investigation into the company and will not pursue an enforcement action.
Robinhood was notified in May that it could face enforcement action because of a failure to register certain crypto assets listed on its trading platform as securities.
“Robinhood Crypto always has and will always respect federal securities laws and never allowed transactions in securities,” Dan Gallagher, chief legal, compliance and corporate affairs officer at Robinhood Markets, said in a statement. "As we explained to the SEC, any case against Robinhood Crypto would have failed. We appreciate the formal closing of this investigation, and we are happy to see a return to the rule of law and commitment to fairness at the SEC.”
The SEC declined to comment on the matter.
The news about Robinhood comes just days after Coinbase said that the SEC dismissed a case against them, pending commission approval. The decision was not confirmed by the SEC.
The SEC recently asked a federal court to pause ongoing litigation against Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, because leadership is now rethinking previous enforcement actions.
The crypto industry, which complained of unfair treatment by former SEC chairman Gary Gensler, spent heavily to help elect Trump and other crypto-friendly lawmakers and is eager to cement its influence in politics and mainstream financial systems.
The industry has scored some early wins since Trump took office, including the repeal of an accounting rule by the SEC and an executive order by the president directing a working group to study and propose changes to crypto regulations as well as the possible formation of a strategic government reserve of cryptocurrencies within 180 days.
The SEC formed its own crypto task force and has been meeting with key industry players to discuss how to rewrite rules around cryptocurrencies.
“The lack of regulatory clarity has fostered an environment in which jokers and thieves thrive, while legitimate crypto projects struggle,” Hester Peirce, the pro-crypto SEC commissioner leading the task force, said in a recent statement.
The SEC also recently announced it had created a new “Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit” that Mark Uyeda, the SEC’s acting chairman, said would “deploy enforcement resources judiciously.”
Shares of Robinhood Markets Inc. fell 5.2% in morning trading, following the general direction of stocks.
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Reporter Alan Suderman contributed.
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