Robinhood’s timeline to go public slowed by the SEC’s close scrutiny of its cryptocurrency business, report says

• Robinhood’s IPO plans have hit a snag as the SEC reviews its prospectus, Bloomberg reported.
• The regulator has been looking into Robinhood’s growing cryptocurrency business, the report said.
• The investing app provider’s listing, initially planned for June, could be delayed to the fall.
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Scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission has been standing in the way of Robinhood’s plans to go public, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

The US securities-markets regulator has been looking closely at the investing app provider’s expanding cryptocurrency business, and there has been extensive discussion between the two about Robinhood’s IPO prospectus, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. This has dragged on the planned timeline for the public listing, which has already hit a hitch.

Robinhood, which initially aimed to go public in June, reportedly delayed its schedule for the stock market debut to July. Now that its plans are moving slowly, the listing could be postponed to as late as fall this year.

The trading app provider intends to disclose its financials and go ahead with its IPO as soon as the SEC’s review is complete, Bloomberg said, citing sources. The company confidentially submitted its S-1 filing to go public at the end of March.

Having launched its crypto-trading business in 2018, and it currently offers seven tradeable coins: bitcoin, bitcoin cash, bitcoin SV, dogecoin, ethereum, ethereum classic, and litecoin.

Christine Brown, head of Robinhood’s crypto operations, said in a blog post in April that growing demand for these assets led 9.5 million customers to trade crypto on its platform in the first quarter of this year, up from 1.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Robinhood’s application comes during a busy year for IPOs, including blank-check company listings, which have already topped 340 so far in 2021. The SEC’s staff has warned lawyers of delays to paperwork review for SPACs due to a backlog of work, Bloomberg reported.

The investing app rolled out an “IPO Access” service after its role in the meme-stock frenzy this year, allowing users to purchase shares of companies – including its own – at their IPO price before the stock starts to trade on open markets.

Robinhood didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment on its IPO.

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