American financial services company Robinhood Markets Inc.'s plans to go public this month have been hampered in recent weeks owing to a back-and-forth with regulators over its prospectus.
According to Bloomberg, Robinhood has been facing scrutiny by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its rising cryptocurrency business. While a listing might come this summer, the popular trading app’s plans could also slip into the fall, the report added.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Robinhood Market plans to disclose its financial details as early as possible and to go public as soon as the review by SEC is over.
Robinhood said it filed confidentially for an initial public offering (IPO) in March. It had been targeting June for its IPO but then that plan slipped to July, Bloomberg reported.
Earlier Bloomberg had
exclusively reported about Robinhood’s plan of going public in July, after its plans for a listing as early as June month slipped.
Robinhood Markets on June 24 sent out a note encouraging users not to sell shares within the first 30 days of offerings. They also warned that investors who sell or "flip" their IPO shares could be restricted from participating in future IPO deals for two months.
“We won't prevent you from selling shares you get through the IPO Access program. However, if you sell IPO shares within 30 days of the IPO, it's considered "flipping" and you'll be restricted from participating in IPOs for 60 days,” the company said on its website.
The option to trade in cryptocurrency was rolled out by Robinhood in 2018. As of today, customers can trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin. About half of the customers of Robinhood are first-time investors and the company is often seen as an entry point for beginners to cryptocurrency markets, which at times could be very volatile.
