- Elon Musk interviewed Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on Sunday night on the Clubhouse audio app.
- He asked Tenev why Robinhood prevented users from trading “meme stocks” like GameStop.
- Tenev said the company was asked to make a $ 3 billion deposit after those stocks soared.
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The GameStop stock saga took a new turn on Sunday night when Tesla CEO Elon Musk unexpectedly interviewed Vlad Tenev, the CEO of trading app Robinhood, in the new Clubhouse audio app.
Robinhood was the target of widespread outrage last week when he prevented users from buying shares of GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry and other meme stocks that shot through the week, fueled by Reddit users.
Musk went to the Clubhouse for an extensive interview in which he talked about his plans to colonize Mars; his neural technology company, Neuralink; and his love of memes. At the end of the interview, Musk called Tenev, introducing him as “Vlad, the stock impaler”.
“Drop the beans, man, what happened last week? Why couldn’t people buy GameStop’s stock?” Musk said. “People demand an answer and want to know the details and the truth.”
Tenev said Robinhood was forced to temporarily stop users from buying these shares because the increase resulted in a $ 3 billion deposit requirement from the National Securities Clearing Corporation. Robinhood, who raised only $ 2 billion in venture capital, spoke to the NSCC to reduce that requirement to $ 700 million, said Tenev.
His comment echoed a statement by Robinhood on Friday.
Vlad Tenev, co-founder and CEO of Robinhood.
Noam Galai / Stringer / Getty Images
Tenev said the NSCC’s decision-making process for reaching the $ 3 billion figure was “opaque” and that it was difficult to know why he decided to do so.
“Did something maybe dark happen here?” Musk said.
Tenev replied that he would not say so, adding that NSCC had cooperated after the initial $ 3 billion deposit request.
Musk also asked whether Citadel Securities, a market maker and intermediary for Robinhood, could have influenced NSCC’s decision.
“There was a rumor that Citadel or other market makers pressured us to do this,” said Tenev, “and this is simply untrue.”
“But wouldn’t they have a strong say about who was put in charge of that organization, since it is an industry consortium and not a government consortium, or not a government regulatory agency?” Musk said of the NSCC.
Tenev said he “had no reason to believe” that. “So you’re getting into conspiracy theories a little bit,” he said.
A Citadel spokesman told Insider: “Citadel Securities has not instructed or caused any broker to stop, suspend or limit trading or otherwise refuse to do business. Citadel Securities remains focused on continuously providing liquidity to our customers in all market conditions. “
Musk regularly showed up during the joke interview; at one point, he asked Tenev, “Is anyone holding you hostage now?”
Many of Reddit’s traders said the motivation for galvanizing meme stocks was to hire hedge funds with heavily sold shares. Musk, who historically attacked short sellers, has been described as a sort of popular hero for Reddit day traders.
This was not the first time that Musk demanded answers from Robinhood. Last week, he expressed support for Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s request for the Chamber’s Financial Services Committee to hold a hearing on the app’s actions.
Robinhood allowed meme stock trading to resume on Monday with some restrictions.