Robinhood Traders, Including Bitcoin Holders, Left in the Lurch Following Theft: Report

A handful of Robinhood users who said their accounts had been liquidated by thieves recounted less-than-helpful responses by the personal investing fintech in a Friday report by Bloomberg News.

• Five customers interviewed by Bloomberg claimed Robinhood acted slowly and responded inadequately to heists against their trading accounts, in part because Robinhood has no emergency support line.
• One user, Bill Hurley, a Connecticut metal worker who told Bloomberg he lost $5,000 in stock and bitcoin in a theft, said it took Robinhood two weeks to respond to his requests for assistance.
• Hurley told Bloomberg he had reached out to Robinhood while the thieves were still transferring his funds to a Revolut account. But he said he heard nothing back until Thursday.
• Bitcoin held on Robinhood cannot be transferred off the platform due to regulatory restrictions. It can, however, be cashed out.
• Robinhood told Bloomberg the thieves targeted individuals' email accounts and did not gain access from an internal security breach.
• "We’re actively working with those impacted to secure their accounts," the fintech told Bloomberg. Robinhood did not immediately respond to multiple CoinDesk requests for comment.

See also: Robinhood Raises Cool $660M in Extended Funding Round