Author: TURNER WRIGHT, COINTELEGRAPH; Translated by: Song Xue, Golden Finance
Members of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee are demanding answers from the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on how Prometheum obtained a special purpose broker-dealer (SPBD) license.
House committee chairman Patrick McHenry and 20 other members sent separate letters to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and FINRA President and CEO Robert Cook on Aug. 9. The lawmakers questioned the “timing and circumstances” of FINRA’s approval of Prometheum’s SPBD license as they continue to consider legislative solutions to regulatory gaps surrounding digital assets.
“While Prometheum claims to be a solution for regulated digital asset products, it has not yet served any clients,” the lawmakers claimed. “It is unclear why FINRA would choose to approve a firm that has no operating history and no record of serving clients in all of the applications it received.”
Founded in 2017, Prometheum was largely unknown to many members of the cryptocurrency space until its co-founder and co-CEO Aaron Kaplan testified before a House committee in June. The company received its SPBD license in May, prompting many cryptocurrency advocacy groups and lawmakers to question its products and services, and in some cases even call for investigations.
House committee members requested that the SEC and FINRA provide documents and communications regarding Prometheum’s SPBD license by August 22.
