The CEO of popular retail trading platform Robinhood says his firm and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were engaged in discussions before the regulator issued a Wells Notice.
In a new interview on CNBC, Vlad Tenev says that Robinhood met with the SEC several times to address issues with existing securities laws and regulatory frameworks that do not account for crypto assets before the regulatory body gave any notice that it planned to take enforcement actions.
“We tried to create what’s called the special purpose broker-dealer for the purpose of transacting crypto assets. We actually came in good faith to meet with the SEC. I think we met with them 16 times and, unfortunately, that was not reciprocated.”
Tenev says the securities watchdog is not interested in pursuing discussions about the subject.
“It’s hard to impute the reasoning behind that, but they told us they did not want to keep meeting about it and they did not see a path toward it.”
He says the SEC has the power to address crypto restrictions but the regulator simply refuses to make changes.
“The SEC has the ability to change the rules to allow for brokers to accommodate crypto assets and they do not seem intent on doing that. Rather they are proceeding with regulation by enforcement and that is disappointing.”
Tenev previously said that Robinhood is prepared to contest the SEC’s charges in court if the legal action pushes through. He now explains why the trading platform is taking a stand against the regulator.
“I did not want to have to get into this situation but we have to defend ourselves and advocate for our customers. We do believe that crypto assets are becoming more and more important and it would not be acceptable for us to not have Americans have access to them.”
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