[ad_1]
- Elon Musk interviewed Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on Sunday night on the Clubhouse audio app.
- He asked Tenev why Robinhood prevented users from trading “meme stocks” like GameStop.
- Tenev said the company was asked to deposit a $ 3 billion deposit after those shares soared.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
The GameStop stock market saga took a new turn on Sunday night when Tesla CEO Elon Musk unexpectedly interviewed Vlad Tenev, CEO of the Robinhood trading app, on the new Clubhouse audio app.
Robinhood was the target of widespread outrage last week when it barred users from purchasing shares of GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry and other so-called meme stocks that had exploded during the week, fueled by by Reddit users.
Musk went to Clubhouse for an extensive interview in which he spoke about his plans to colonize Mars; his neural technology company, Neuralink; and his love of memes. At the end of the interview, Musk called in Tenev, introducing him as “Vlad the Cattle Impaler”.
“Spill the beans, man, what happened last week? Why can’t people buy the GameStop stocks?” Musk said. “People demand an answer and they want to know the details and the truth.”
Tenev said Robinhood was forced to temporarily block users from purchasing those shares because the outbreak resulted in a $ 3 billion deposit requirement from the National Securities Clearing Corporation. Robinhood, which had only raised $ 2 billion in venture capital, has spoken with NSCC to lower that requirement to $ 700 million, Tenev said.
His comment echoed a statement from Robinhood on Friday.
Vlad Tenev, co-founder and CEO of Robinhood.
Noam Galai / Stringer / Getty Images
Tenev said NSCC’s decision-making process to reach the $ 3 billion figure was “opaque” and it was unclear why he decided to do so.
“Did something fishy possibly have gone down here?” Musk said.
Tenev replied that he would not say so, adding that the NSCC had been cooperative after the initial request for the $ 3 billion deposit.
Musk also asked whether Citadel Securities, a market maker and Robinhood middleman, could have influenced the NSCC decision.
“There was a rumor that Citadel or other market makers somehow pushed us to do this,” Tenev said, “and that’s just plain wrong.”
“But wouldn’t they have a say on who was put in charge of this organization since it is an industrial consortium and not a government consortium, or not a government regulatory agency? ? ” Musk said of the NSCC.
Tenev said he had “no reason to believe” this. “Then you get into conspiracy theories a bit,” he says.
A Citadel spokesperson told Insider: “Citadel Securities has not ordered or caused any brokerage firm to stop, suspend or limit trading or refuse to do business. Citadel Securities remains focused on the continued provision of liquidity to our customers under all market conditions. “
Musk regularly intervened during the interview with jokes; at one point he asked Tenev, “Is anyone holding you hostage right now?”
Many Reddit traders said the motivation for galvanizing stocks even was to take on hedge funds with heavily sold stocks. Musk, who has historically attacked short sellers, has been described as some sort of folk hero to Reddit day traders.
It wasn’t the first time Musk had asked Robinhood for answers. Last week, he expressed support for Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s call for the House Financial Services Committee to hold a hearing into the app’s actions.
Robinhood authorized the resumption of shares on Monday with certain restrictions.
Listen to Musk and Tenev’s full exchange here:
[ad_2]
Source link