Robinhood’s crypto arm relisted Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) for U.S. customers Wednesday, reversing changes made amid a regulatory crackdown on the industry last year while also adding support for XRP and the meme coin PepeCoin (PEPE).
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance last year, in part alleging that the firms offered Solana and Cardano to investors as unregistered securities, among several other tokens, including Polygon (previously MATIC, now POL).
Meanwhile, Ripple Labs has fought a four-year legal battle against the regulator over XRP. While a federal judge in New York found last year that XRP wasn’t offered as a security through certain transactions—viewed as an industry win—the SEC filed a last-minute appeal in October.
Solana’s Value Stuck in Fourth Gear as Network Growth Races Ahead of Ethereum
Solana’s rapid network growth and escalating on-chain activity have exceeded that of rival Ethereum in recent weeks, yet the token's market value remains at a fraction of its rival’s. Hovering at around $100 billion, Solana's (SOL) market capitalization is pegged at just 25% to Ethereum’s $391 billion. Some believe that could be about to change. The upstart has continued to peck away at Ethereum, beating out the number two blockchain in key metrics along the way, according to thesis-driven cryp...
Under the leadership of SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the agency has targeted broad swaths of the crypto industry, alleging that many players are in violation of its rules. However, the SEC is expected to adopt a less punitive approach toward crypto with Donald Trump’s White House win, spurring hopes of a regulatory framework for crypto or a new SEC figurehead.
Robinhood itself faced regulatory heat from the SEC earlier this year. Scrutinizing digital assets offered, the commission-free trading platform disclosed in May that it had received an enforcement action threat from the regulator centered on its crypto business.
While crypto exchanges will often support a panoply of assets, Robinhood’s roster of available assets has been comparatively limited. In 2021, Robinhood Crypto’s then-COO Christine Hall said the “safety-first company” assesses its tokens extensively from a regulatory perspective.
XRP Holders Still Trading as Though ETF Is Sure Thing, Say Analysts
XRP traders are still regarding an ETF approval as inevitable, analysts noted, as the token has jumped 7% over the last 24 hours and nearly 23% in the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data. The coin has been trading with a clear uptrend ever since Republican candidate Donald Trump won the United States presidential election. One thing that has been holding the XRP price back for years is its ongoing legal dispute between its creator, Ripple, and the United States Securities and Exchan...
As a token that trades on little more than vibes, Pepe became synonymous with an industry-wide bout of meme coin mania that ran hot this spring. Since then, the Ethereum-based token has solidified its presence as one of the largest meme coins by market cap, only behind its dog-themed contemporaries, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB).
As of this writing, Pepe’s value has leapt 40% over the past day, rising sharply toward an all-time high price of $0.00001822 on Robinhood’s listing. Meanwhile, Solana’s 2.2% rise to $216 and Cardano’s 6.8% jump to $0.59 trailed XRP, popping 6.8% to $0.71 over the past day.
Lifting Robinhood’s roster of available cryptocurrencies in the U.S., Pepe joins a relatively small crew of meme coins on the platform. Robinhood opened its doors to Dogecoin in 2018, while Shiba Inu was added years later in 2022, a move that was accompanied by a $100,000 SHIB giveaway.
Trump Taps Dogecoin Fan Elon Musk to Lead DOGE Agency With Vivek Ramaswamy
On Tuesday night, President-elect Donald Trump appointed Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, also known as D.O.GE. “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” Trump said in a statement on X, calling the move essential to the “Save America” movement....
When asked for comment about the decision not to relist Polygon, Robinhood did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.
In a blog post, Robinhood Crypto’s General Manager and Vice President Johann Kerbrat said the expansion for the company’s crypto arm was driven by investor interest. At the same time, Robinhood said it regularly reviews assets for listing based on internal policies.
“We’ve consistently heard from our customers that they want access to more digital assets,” he said. “With lower barriers to entry, we believe crypto presents an opportunity for those who have been historically left behind by the traditional financial system.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward
