SEC bins Robinhood probe amid crypto oversight shift

Robinhood shares surged about 2.5% in premarket hours as the U.S. SEC ended its investigation into the crypto and equity trading platform.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission doesn’t intend to pursue further enforcement action against Robinhood for its crypto services and activity reporting, wrote chief legal and compliance officer Dan Gallagher in a Feb. 24 blog post.

Robinhood received the SEC’s notice of intent last Friday, marking another crypto turnaround at the regulator in 2025. Indeed, the SEC has thrown in the towel in several digital asset-related bouts amid an ongoing change to regulatory tides.

Cases against behemoths like Coinbase and OpenSea were reportedly dropped. The commission also paused litigation with Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao.

Gallagher, who was considered for the White House crypto czar role last year, said crypto’s long-awaited victory reaffirmed the industry’s argument; that most digital assets fall outside the purview of federal securities laws.

“Instead of regulation by enforcement, it’s time for the SEC to turn to regulation by regulation,” Robinhood’s CLO stated, adding that the focus should be “providing market participants with clarity and an appropriate regulatory framework for digital assets.”

New SEC leadership quickly sorted the basket of enforcement actions left behind by former chair Gary Gensler. The commission filed some 120 cryptocurrency complaints during Gensler’s tenure, almost twice the number of cases opened by his predecessor, Jay Clayton.

Gensler’s view that most digital assets were securities regularly pitted him against the crypto industry. Gallagher, other crypto bigwigs, and lawmakers criticized the SEC enforcement approach. U.S. courts chastised the SEC for being “ambiguous and capricious” in crypto regulation and lawsuits.

There’s a noticeable pivot toward a crypto-friendly stance at the securities watchdog after President Donald Trump’s return.  Acting chair Mark Uyeda’s new Crypto Task Force revisited staking in Ethereum funds, replaced the commission’s crypto investigation unit, and iced multiple landmark cases against digital asset operators.