Johann Kerbrat, the General Manager of Robinhood Crypto, has raised eyebrows in the crypto space after hinting that the firm may consider launching its own stablecoin. Kerbrat appeared on the Thinking Crypto podcast with Tony Edward and discussed how stablecoins are increasingly becoming a part of the crypto market. However, he did not provide any definite information about the company’s plans. Nonetheless, his comments have elicited a lot of debate especially given the fact that the adoption and usage of stablecoins has been on the rise across the globe.
In the podcast, Kerbrat provided insights on Robinhood’s commitment to making the process of transacting in crypto as easy as possible. He said that the platform has a partnership with Circle through which users can trade USDC without incurring any fees.
This partnership is in line with Robinhood’s mission of making crypto trading as straightforward as possible and enable seamless entry and exit into the stablecoin markets. Circle has also recently stated that it will be collaborating with Sony to create a bridged version of USDC in order to provide additional utility for stablecoins.
Kerbrat noted that the company is very careful regarding the choice of stablecoins that will operate on the platform. He expressed some concerns towards the backing of some stablecoins mentioning the risks of de-pegging.
Robinhood’s Stablecoin Strategy
In order to safeguard its customers, Robinhood performs a rigorous check to ensure that a stablecoin is backed by sufficiently liquid reserves before offering it for trading. This is done in order to prevent users from losing their investments while cashing out their holdings.
Although the collaboration with Circle allows USDC to be available to the Robinhood users, Kerbrat did not rule out the possibility of Robinhood launching its own stablecoin. He explained that, there are no current plans in place but it is not entirely ruled out.
Kerbrat said that if the company decided to proceed with the development of a stablecoin, they would make an announcement and could come back to the podcast to make the official announcement. This has only added more fuel to the speculation, especially as stablecoins are set to play a more important part in the world economy.
Besides stablecoins, he also discussed Robinhood’s legal issues with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Earlier this year, the SEC sent a Wells Notice to Robinhood, suggesting possible enforcement action.
However, Kerbrat, the chief legal officer of the company, remained optimistic about the firm’s chances of standing its ground and going head to head with the SEC. This legal battle is a part of the overall regulatory issues which the crypto industry is facing, stressing on the fact that Robinhood is still working hard to get through the tough regulatory landscape.