Vlad Tenev Archives - International Finance

Trump urges passage of ‘fair’ Clarity Act as industry frets over legislative uncertainty

International Finance Business Desk — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:41 +0000

Amid the uncertainties over the Clarity Act’s passing, United States President Donald Trump has asked the Congress to pass the “fair version” of the bill, which would bring clearer definitions to the growing cryptocurrency sector.

The Republican, who often calls himself the “crypto-friendly president,” made the comments in the presence of industry executives who had gathered for an event at the ‌White House with him.

Crypto ventures have been aggressively backing the “Clarity Act,” stating that the legislation would put them on solid legal ground. However, the bill has stalled in the Senate with little time left on the congressional calendar.

ALSO READ | Crypto’s long bleed: How geopolitics and a hawkish Fed broke the 2026 market

Several top crypto executives, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi, along with ⁠Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher, spoke alongside Trump at the event, which was also attended by notable individuals such as US Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins, and White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt.

“Now we need Congress to take the next step by passing the Clarity Act—a fair version of the Clarity Act,” Trump said during the event.

Despite the Republican pursuing crypto-friendly policies since returning to office in January 2025, the industry sees the “Clarity Act” as the ultimate deal. The proposed bill aims to define which tokens qualify as securities versus commodities and which agencies have oversight of the sector.

Without the Clarity Act’s legislation, regulations will be vulnerable to the shifting political climate ‌and ⁠court challenges, creating lingering hazards for the crypto industry, say executives and analysts.

However, the Clarity Act has found bipartisan opposition, as many Democrats, along with a section of Republicans, have said that ⁠they would not vote for a bill without strong language to ban political officials from profiting off of their crypto ventures.

Meanwhile, the SEC has proposed long-awaited rules that would exempt certain token offerings from securities regulations, making it easier for crypto companies to issue tokens and raise money.

“The agency seeks to provide crypto asset entrepreneurs and market participants with clear pathways to raise capital under the federal securities laws,” Atkins, the SEC’s Trump-appointed chair, said in a statement.

“The SEC’s plan is subject to public comment for 60 days following its publication in the US Federal Register,” the agency said.

Since 2025, the regulatory body has shifted away from its previous crackdown on the industry. Immediately after the beginning of Trump 2.0, SEC performed a course correction by rescinding stringent crypto accounting guidance and dismissing lawsuits against Coinbase, Binance, and others that the agency had alleged were flouting its rules.

Atkins has also backed the crypto companies in their demand that the government accept that virtual tokens resemble commodities more than securities and should mostly be exempt from the SEC’s rules.

If SEC’s draft rules get finalized, it would allow a one-time exemption for crypto companies to issue up to USD 5 million in crypto tokens during a four-year period. It would also allow offerings of up to USD 75 million during each 12-month period, though issuers would still have to provide financial statements and meet regular reporting requirements.

Under both exemptions, ‌token issuers ⁠would still need to disclose certain information to investors.

The regulator’s proposal also includes a safe harbor that would exclude a crypto asset from being deemed an investment contract if certain conditions are met.

“Regulation of crypto assets is an important step toward the clear, fit-for-purpose rules digital asset markets in the United States have needed for years,” said Summer Mersinger, CEO of the Blockchain Association.

ALSO READ | Japan rewrites crypto rules: All we need to know about the new amendments

Cody Carbone, CEO of industry trade group The Digital Chamber also ⁠praised the proposal and said that his group would “work with the SEC to ensure consumers and the digital assets industry can thrive onshore in the US.”While the SEC’s proposal could help establish a more solid legal footing for the crypto industry in the short term, industry executives are concerned about the stalling of the Clarity Act, fearing that without its passage, future administrations may seek to overturn or toughen the SEC’s rules.

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Robinhood introduces AI agents for trading and credit card spending

International Finance Business Desk — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:03:13 +0000

Robinhood Markets, a mobile-first fintech company that offers an electronic trading platform for stocks, options, cryptocurrencies, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has opened its trading and banking platforms to artificial intelligence (AI) agents by launching a beta “Agentic Trading” product and a “Virtual Agentic Credit Card” that can place stock orders and make purchases on the customer’s behalf.

Through the newly launched products, customers will now be able to connect third-party agents to Robinhood through “Model Context Protocol Servers” for both the broking and Robinhood Banking.

The move also makes Robinhood one of the first mainstream consumer finance brands to give outside agents direct, sanctioned access to a retail broking and a credit line, instead of forcing developers to scrape the app or rely on unofficial application programming interfaces.

“Agentic Trading runs through a dedicated account that sits separate from a user’s main portfolio, with the agent restricted to whatever funds the customer deposits into it. Customers receive push notifications for every trade and can watch a real-time activity feed and profit-and-loss view inside the Robinhood apps. The connection can be cut at any time. The beta supports equities only at launch, with options, crypto, event contracts, futures and prediction markets to follow,” Robinhood said.

Robinhood is pitching the AI feature as a way for customers to covert strategies they would otherwise execute by hand, including portfolio rebalancing, sector-concentration analysis and automated mean-reversion trades. As per the mobile-first broking, agents will, where appropriate, surface a trade preview for the customer to approve before execution.

The Agentic Credit Card combines an AI agent with a virtual card linked to a customer’s Robinhood Gold Card account. Talking more about this, Robinhood said, “Spending limits, monthly caps and a manual-approval toggle are set during configuration, and the agent never sees the primary card number or other account details. Agent-driven purchases earn the same 3% cash back as the underlying Gold Card. Support for the forthcoming Robinhood Platinum Card will follow when that product ships later this year.”

The spending limits set by the Agentic Credit Card will enable Robinhood customers to buy limited-release sneakers below a target price, book restaurant reservations and fill small-business shopping lists.

“Our mission has always been to democratise finance for all, and now, that mission extends to AI agents,” said Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev.

The launch of Robinhood’s Agentic Credit Card comes as payment networks and platforms race to build infrastructure for agent-initiated commerce. Stripe, Visa, Amazon’s Bedrock AgentCore Payments and Google have all rolled out tooling aimed at giving agents the ability to transact. However, Robinhood has become the first major American retail broking to extend that model to securities trading.

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Robinhood gets nod to launch brokerage services in Singapore

IFM Correspondent — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:05:11 +0000

US neobroker Robinhood Markets has hit a significant milestone in its international expansion, by receiving in-principle approval (IPA) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to offer brokerage services.

“Singapore’s world-class regulatory environment, high rates of digital adoption, and growing population of retail investors make it the ideal hub for our mission. We see enormous potential to democratize the financial markets for a new generation of investors in Singapore,” said Patrick Chan, Head of Asia for Robinhood.

The IPA now paves the way for Robinhood to offer a comprehensive suite of brokerage services in the city state, including trading of securities, exchange-traded derivatives, custody, product financing, and collective investment funds.

The Southeast Asian country also serves as Robinhood’s Asia-Pacific headquarters, supporting the American neobroker’s broader goal of building the world’s leading financial ecosystem. Robinhood’s presence in the region has been further strengthened by its subsidiary, Bitstamp Asia, which holds a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the MAS.

“By establishing a local footprint, we aim to provide investors in the Singapore with the tools and access they need to participate in the global economy, furthering our mission to democratize finance for all,” Robinhood remarked.

“An in-principle approval (IPA) reflects MAS’ view that a license may be issued to the applicant, Robinhood Singapore, upon the fulfilment of specified conditions and provided there are no material adverse developments affecting the applicant. An IPA does not constitute a license for RHSG to provide brokerage services at this juncture. MAS reserves the right to rescind the IPA in circumstances where it considers appropriate,” the company concluded.

Simultaneously, Robinhood has outlined its principles for opening private markets to retail investors through its organisational fold, with CEO Vlad Tenev pledging to operate with transparency, protect investors through valuation discipline, and respect issuer preferences on retail exposure.

After tripling in 2025, Robinhood’s stock has dropped roughly 39% year-to-date. To counter the slide, the company approved a USD 1.5 billion share buyback program in March 2026.

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