Robinhood fires back
US-based stock trading platform Robinhood has hit back at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) after the federal body put a halt to its short-lived sports betting market for Super Bowl LIX.
will push the CFTC for “regulatory clarity”
According to Covers, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said Wednesday that his firm will push the CFTC for “regulatory clarity” on event contracts including sports.
Robinhood partnered with prediction market Kalshi to offer event contracts tied to Super Bowl LIX, but had to halt the action a day later when the CFTC told the firm to stop its customers from wagering on sports event contracts.
All that might be set to change after President Donald Trump’s pick for the new Chair of the CFTC.
Times a-changing
Tenev’s comments came as President Trump nominated pro-crypto tzar Brian Quintenz to chair the CFTC, a move that promises the likes of Robinhood, Kalshi, and Crypto.com a rosy future.
prediction markets are the future”
Quintenz’s nomination is good news for Tenev, who stated Wednesday that “prediction markets are the future.” The CEO said prediction markets were an active trading asset for news and information in addition to sports.
According to media reports, Tenev stated Robinhood customers traded over half a billion contracts linked to the presidential election and that a “comprehensive events platform” will be available later this year.
The CFTC suspended Robinhood’s Super Bowl market despite Tenev saying that his firm had been in regular talks with the federal body about the stock trading platform’s plans to offer the contracts.
Pushing boundaries
While the Robinhood CEO referenced the murkiness around event contracts, he acknowledged it was a new asset class “and there’s not regulatory clarity across all of it yet, in particular, sports.”
Tenev said his company would, however, continue pushing the boundaries because it believes it will be a market leader in the events contracts space.
“Expect us to not just offer it, but continue to drive and push for regulatory clarity industry-wide.”