June 2020, Alex Kearns, who was 20 years outdated on the time, from Naperville, Illinois, killed himself, largely due to a bug within the Robinhood system. The bug was that he turned on the app, it mentioned he owed $730,000 that he didn’t have, due to choices positions that he thought canceled out however didn’t seem to. He known as the assistance line. The assist line, after all, was not manned, as we’ve mentioned. He despatched a number of panicked emails — three, to be exact — didn’t obtain a response. Ultimately there was a response from the emails saying that, in reality, his positions had been lined. But by that time, it was too late, as a result of he had taken his personal life. The — this can be a gentleman who’s 20 years outdated. Under Illinois legislation, he was not allowed to purchase a beer, however he was allowed to tackle $730,000 in positions and publicity that he didn’t have the liquidity to cowl. Your mission, Mr. Tenev, is to democratize finance. But the historical past of monetary regulation is to guard folks like Alex Kearns from the system. As the outdated joke goes, for those who’re enjoying poker and you possibly can’t determine who the fish is on the desk, you need to go away the desk since you’re in all probability the fish. And there’s an innate rigidity in your small business mannequin between democratizing finance, which is a noble calling, and being a conduit to feed fish to sharks. So I’m nervous. I feel I received an publicity. And I name your assist line now. Let’s name and let’s pay attention within the time we’ve got remaining to what I’m going to listen to on the opposite finish of the telephone. Voicemail: “Thank you for calling Robinhood. Please visit us at robinhood.com or on our app for support. If you have an urgent trading need, please make sure to include details of it when reaching out. Thanks have a great day.”
