CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Robinhood Crypto fined $30m in New York for regulatory violations

BY:HAMZA FAREED MALIK

A Robinhood sign is seen on Wall Street (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Robinhood Crypto was hit with a $30m (£24.7m) for violating anti-money laundering, cybersecurity, and consumer protection requirements. 

New York’s financial regulator the Department of Financial Services fined the trading platform’s crypto business on Tuesday for “significant failures” in money laundering obligations and cyber security and violating “critical consumer and reporting requirements.”

Additionally, Robinhood Crypto must keep an independent consultant to evaluate the company’s compliance with the watchdog’s regulations.

“As its business grew, Robinhood Crypto failed to invest the proper resources and attention to develop and maintain a culture of compliance, a failure that resulted in significant violations of the Department’s anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulations,”” said Superintendent of Financial Services Adrienne A. Harris.

“All virtual currency companies licensed in New York State are subject to the same anti-money laundering, consumer protection, and cybersecurity regulations as traditional financial services companies.”

DFS investigated and found that Robinhood’s anti-money laundering compliance program including its transaction monitoring system had “significant deficiencies.”

DFS said the company’s anti money laundering compliance system found to be inadequately staffed and failed to transition in time to a better monitoring system, as well as failing to properly addressing risks to the platform.

Robinhood was also found to not have complied with certain consumer protection requirements by not having a dedicated phone number on the website for consumer complaints.