Stock and cryptocurrency trading app Robinhood is expecting its quarterly revenue to decrease based on significantly high trading volume earlier this year. In an amendment to its Form S-1 filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Robinhood reported that its trading activity for January and February was "particularly high" but had dropped by the end of the second quarter of 2021. According to the trading app, it expects its Q3 2021 revenue to be lower "as a result of decreased levels of trading activity relative to the record highs in trading activity, particularly in cryptocurrencies." Robinhood …

A vulnerability of a smart contract in one private DAO fund firstly to the leak of cryptocurrency worth tens of millions of dollars (billions as of today) and then to the hard fork of the second-largest blockchain network Ethereum. You can find tons of articles investigating those events, including a wiki page. Even though the purpose here is conclusions, let us refresh in memory what happened five years ago. The DAO was a startup that ran an investment fund in Ether (ETH) and operated as a smart contract on Ethereum. The DAO is a proper name that founders decided to …

San-Francisco-based fintech firm Ripple has notched up another small victory in its ongoing battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Netburn has denied the SEC’s motion to suppress the deposition of the former director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, William Hinman, in a ruling in New York on Thursday. In June 2018, Hinman said in a speech that based on his understanding of the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, the “current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions.” The deposition may add more weight to Ripple’s claim that …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has settled charges against the defunct initial coin offering (ICO) review website Coinschedule.com for violating the anti-touting provisions of federal securities laws. But two SEC commissioners have penned an open letter in response, saying the settlement highlights flaws with the commission’s processes. According to a Wednesday release from the securities regulator, Coinschedule failed to disclose it was receiving compensation from digital asset issuers for favorable reviews. The settlement’s terms state that Blotics, formerly known as Coinschedule, must pay a penalty of $154,434 plus $43,000 in disgorgement plus interest, without admitting or denying the SEC’s …

On July 13, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, pushed back its decision on Wisdom Tree’s Bitcoin ETF with a request for public feedback. This request will allow members of the public to communicate their position on whether the trust should be approved or denied. The SEC’s notice stated: “The Commission requests that interested persons provide written submissions of their views, data and arguments with respect to the issues identified above, as well as any other concerns they may have with the proposal.” Public comments are required to be submitted to the Federal Register within 21 days, and rebuttals …

Cryptocurrency asset manager Grayscale Investments continues reinforcing its commitment to digital currency investment products with a new filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. The company announced Monday that it has filed a Form 10 registration statement with the SEC on behalf of its Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) to become an SEC reporting company. Grayscale’s diversified digital currency investment fund will now file its reports and financial statements as 10-Qs and 10-Ks with the SEC, along with current reports on Form 8-K, in addition to “complying with all other obligations” under the Exchange Act, …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against three people accused of insider trading with the Long Blockchain Company related to changing its name from the Long Island Iced Tea Company. In a Friday announcement, the SEC said Eric Watson, Oliver Barret-Lindsay, and Gannon Giguiere were facing charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for their role in trades connected to rebranding a beverage business to a blockchain firm, which caused the company’s stock price to rise significantly. Giguiere purchased 35,000 shares of Long Blockchain after having been allegedly tipped off to …

Senator and former United States presidential aspirant Elizabeth Warren has once again raised alarms about the current regulatory climate for crypto in the country. According to Reuters, Warren has written to Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, demanding answers about the scope of the SEC’s crypto oversight in the area of consumer protection. In a statement issued by Warren, the chair of the Subcommittee on Economic Policy bemoaned the lack of protection for crypto investors against the activities of rogue actors, adding: “These regulatory gaps endanger consumers and investors and undermine the safety of our financial …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is nearing settlements with four U.S.-based individuals accused of promoting the multi-billion dollar crypto Ponzi scheme, BitConnect. According to Law360, the terms of the settlements are currently awaiting final approval from Judge John Koeltl. The judge noted that while agreements’ terms are currently legally sound, minor fixes are needed to be made to ensure they are “scrupulously accurate.” The agreements include a more than $3 million settlement from Joshua Heppensen of Massachusetts and $576,000 from his fiancee Laura Mascola, $526,000 from Ryan Maasen of Oklahoma, and an unspecified amount from Michael Noble of …

Timothy Massad, who served as Chair of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission between 2014 and 2017, has laid out the reasons why he thinks regulators should approve a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. In an opinion piece published on Bloomberg Wednesday, Massad said the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, should approve a Bitcoin ETF in a manner that would enhance the transparency and integrity of the nascent cryptocurrency industry. This way, investors can access the digital asset without having to buy it off exchanges or worry about self-custody. Massad said the ideal path for approving a Bitcoin ETF would …

Trading platform Robinhood could lose a significant revenue source should the United States Securities and Exchange Commission move to ban the controversial payment for order flows (PFOF) — routing retail trading orders to market makers. Brokers like Robinhood often use the practice to offset trading fees, thus providing zero commission trading to its retail customer base. According to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Robinhood’s initial public offering filing revealed that the broker earned 81% of its Q1 revenue from payment for order flows covering stock, options and crypto. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Robinhood filed for its IPO on …

Stock and cryptocurrency trading app Robinhood has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering. In a Form S-1 registration statement filed Thursday with the SEC, Robinhood said it intended to move forward with an initial public offering for its Class A common stock. If approved, the company said it plans to trade using the ticker “HOOD” on the Nasdaq and raise $100 million in the debut. Robinhood said it would reserve 20% to 35% of the shares for its users. The IPO announcement comes just one day after the U.S. Financial Industry …