Robinhood reportedly restricts crypto trading temporarily 'due to extraordinary market conditions' as Bitcoin and Dogecoin spike sharply
- Robinhood limited cryptocurrency trading due to "extraordinary market conditions" on Friday, CNBC said.
- A spokesperson told CNBC customers can still use available deposits in their accounts to buy crypto.
- The brokerage's restriction came as the prices of Bitcoin and Dogecoin spiked sharply on Friday.
Robinhood limited cryptocurrency trading on its platform Friday following the soaring prices of Bitcoin and Dogecoin, CNBC reported.
"Due to extraordinary market conditions, we've temporarily turned off instant buying power for crypto," a Robinhood spokesperson told CNBC. "Customers can still use settled funds to buy crypto. We'll keep monitoring market conditions and communicating with our customers."
Earlier in the day, traders on Robinhood were unable to make new deposits for cryptocurrency purchases. They could buy cryptocurrencies only with the existing deposits in their accounts, which can take five business days to clear, CNBC said.
The price of Bitcoin surged 15% on Friday to $38,089.94, after Elon Musk changed his Twitter bio to "#bitcoin." Musk's tweets have prompted recent frenzies into the shares of video-game retailer GameStop and digital token Dogecoin. The meme-based cryptocurrency that started as a joke soared 336%, to $0.054 on Friday, pushing it into the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, according to data from Coin Gecko.
Robinhood did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The platform had also restricted trading of highly volatile stocks like GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry, and others on Thursday before the market open, saying it continuously monitors the markets and makes changes where necessary. It later loosened restrictions and reopened limited buying.
But day traders and some lawmakers sharply criticized the brokerage for leaving its users unable to buy some Reddit-touted stocks. On livestream video service Twitch, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Robinhood's decision unacceptable and said more information was needed.