Robinhood reviews its crypto offerings in light of the SEC crackdown — Will others follow?

Key Takeaways:

• Robinhood is open to reconsidering its crypto offers.
• Other exchanges have not yet followed the company’s lead.
• The SEC pushes further, moving to freeze Binance.US assets globally.

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) – US-based financial services company Robinhood announced it would revise the list of offered cryptocurrencies in the light of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) crackdown on two crypto giants, Binance and Coinbase.

In detail, Dan Gallagher, the firm’s legal chief, testified in front of the House Agriculture Committee during a meeting focused on digital assets on June 6. He noted that the brokerage is “actively reviewing” the regulator’s analysis “to determine what, if any, actions to take.”

Robinhood offers investors only 18 crypto tokens to choose from, including the ones that SEC deemed “securities,” thus subject to securities laws. The largest market-cap “culprits” include Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), and Polygon (MATIC).

Meanwhile, other exchanges benefitted from the Binance-SEC scandal in the short term. According to on-chain metrics from crypto aggregator Nansen, other cryptocurrency exchanges like OKX, Bybit, and Crypto.com have reported increased inflows.

While OKX and Bybit are unavailable in the US, crypto.com came to the US market in March 2022, adding US clients to the 80 million users globally. However, none mentioned exchanges commented on the SEC’s crackdown and the possibility of delisting certain tokens.

SEC moves to freeze Binance.US account funds globally

Meanwhile, the SEC aims to freeze Binance.US assets worldwide, per the request to the Washington, DC, federal court. The order would apply to dozens of accounts held at Axos Bank, the defunct Silvergate Bank, Prime Trust, and other institutions.

SEC also alleged that Sigma Chain and Merit Peak, two foreign entities also controlled by Zhao, served as “conduits for billions of dollars of customer money, ” improperly commingled with Binance’s funds.

Also read: Op-Ed: The US Securities and Exchange Commission: Corrupt, Crooked and Biased?

The lawmaker argued that the mentioned emergency restraining order was necessary to “prevent the dissipation of available assets for any judgment, given the Defendants’ years of violative conduct, disregard of the laws of the United States.”

According to the SEC, Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, can argue against the motion if he shows “cause why a preliminary injunction […] should not be entered.” The restraining order would also prevent all three entities from destroying evidence.