Robinhood CEO criticizes UK over ‘backwards’ crypto stance

Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev commented on the UK’s hawkish approach to crypto, especially compared to gambling.

In an interview with the Times, Tenev expressed his desire to expand Robinhood’s business into the UK, highlighting its potential to become “a financial house in the UK market.”

Robinhood first started offering shares to the UK market last year. The crypto-focused finance company opened its credit trading last month, giving customers the opportunity to place even bigger bets by taking out loans from the company.

“It is quite clear that [British] Customers love the product and want to move all their financial activities to Robinhood,” Tenev said.

When asked if he was concerned that UK regulations would hinder the firm’s market expansion due to recent concerns around crypto, Tenev stated that he was mostly uneasy about it. He even underlined how “backward” their attitude towards crypto is, considering that gambling is a much bigger problem in the country and yet it is not mentioned as much as crypto.

“I think people should be allowed to do what they want. But on a policy level, something like ‘gambling will continue but suddenly we’ll start having a problem with crypto and credit trading’ seems very odd to me. This seems counterintuitive to me,” Tenev said.

Tenev’s comment was in direct reference to a statement made by NHS England Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard about unregulated crypto trading sites. In June, the NHS revealed that more young people were seeking treatment from NHS clinics after becoming “addicted” to crypto trading, and the health service called for action against “unregulated cryptocurrency sites”.

“The service is constantly adapting to real and growing social needs, including the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, which I heard about while visiting one of our 15 gambling clinics earlier this year,” Pritchard said in a separate Times article.

The UK has taken a much stricter stance on crypto compared to the US, especially with President-elect Trump’s increasing support for the crypto industry.

Recently, it was reported that the United Kingdom has begun passing laws regulating stablecoins after regulators expressed concerns about the stability and transparency of digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC).

On October 21, Val Smith, the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s head of payments and digital assets, argued that the agency’s decision to impose a strict registration process for crypto businesses was necessary to protect consumers.

Statistics showed that more than 87% of crypto registration attempts were rejected, withdrawn or denied by regulators.

Smith noted that FCA experts have taken a cautious approach, noting the risks of terrorism, organized crime and human trafficking due to the potential for crypto to be used as a tool to facilitate illegal activities.