In brief
- Robinhood has stopped supporting purchases of $GME.
- The crypto community is largely critical of Robinhood's decision.
- For some, this creates free advertising space for decentralized finance.
Trading platform Robinhood has stopped supporting purchases of $GME shares (although you can still sell them), along with other stocks $AMC, $BBBY and $NOK. This comes after the stocks shot up in value due to a targeted push by those who frequent the notorious WallStreetBets subreddit.
But the crypto community is fuming over the decision.
"robinhood just de-listed $GME $AMC and $NOK. this is some clown shit," said Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer at Coinshares.
Robinhood's website states the company's mission is to "democratize finance for all." In addition, the company believes the financial system should be "built to work for everyone."
For some in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry, that position is fundamentally at odds with Robinhood's decision to suspend $GME trading.
Dave Portnoy weighs in
Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy, who once briefly stepped into the cryptosphere, said, "I will burn Robinhood to the ground if they shut down free market trading."
In another tweet, he suggested Robinhood has a choice: "Either Robinhood allows free trading like they say they do or they die. It's really that simple."
It was a quiet day in crypto (compared to Wall Street anyway) as major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum appear to have finished correcting.
Bitcoin, which hit lows of $30,458 on January 27, bounced back confidently above $31,000 and appears to be trading steadily.
Ethereum’s price mirrored that of Bitcoin’s, with lows on Wednesday followed by a bounce back. For the first time this week, most of the projects in the top 20 are back in the green, with the biggest gains coming from Chai...
For others however, Robinhood's decision to suspend purchases of $GME represents free advertising for the DeFi industry. "We are getting the best DeFi ads for free," said Eric Conner, co-founder of ethhub.
It all depends on perspective.
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