Webull, a Robinhood competitor and all-in one brokerage with 28 million registered users, crashed as much as 32% in pre-market trading on Wednesday after a bipartisan US Congressional committee branded it a national security risk.
The company facilitates trading in traditional equities and derivatives, as well as crypto and prediction markets.
According to the US House of Representatives’ Select Committee on China, “a profound gap” exists between Webull’s marketing as “an American company” and who actually funds and influences it.
Its ownership, workforce, technology, data flows, financing and compliance are all “tied in structural ways” to China, its report concludes.
As part of the investigation, Webull originally told committee members that it “does not have any offices or employees based in the People’s Republic of China.”
However, its mainland unit, Hunan Weibu, now employs 863 people or 62% of the global headcount.
Congressmen John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote to Webull CEO Anthony Denier in December 2024 about two Chinese companies: Fumi Technology, which established the business, and Hunan Weibu, which they said collected grants from the Changsha Municipal Government, in China’s Hunan province.
According to the congressmen, recipients of Changsha Municipal Government’s special fund must “support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,“ allegedly evidencing “direct influence exerted by the CCP over Hunan Weibu — and by extension, Webull.”
Webull listed on Nasdaq by merging into a blank-check company at a $7.3 billion valuation. Its market cap exceeded $32 billion on April 14, 2025, and is currently $4.1 billion.
Source link
