GameStop hearing: Reddit, Robbinhood, Citadel CEOs, Roaring Kitty to testify

The U.S. government is set to conduct a virtual hearing for the GameStop stock spike, where CEOs from Reddit, Robbinhood and Citadel are set to testify, including Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty.

Micky News followed last month’s jaw-dropping “meme investing” frenzy on GameStop, which caused its stock price to spike 500%. This caused a massive commotion within the trading community, which is now being looked at by the U.S. government.

CEOs identified as witnesses

The House Committee on Financial Services is set to start a virtual hearing on February 18 to investigate the $20-to $340 trading spike for GameStop stocks, per Coindesk.

Last Friday, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the chairwoman of the said committee, announced the following names to testify as witnesses to the hearing entitled, “Game Stopped? Who Wins and Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media, and Retail Investors Collide.”

Accordingly, those named were:

• Vlad Tenev, Chief Executive Officer, Robinhood Markets, Inc.
• Kenneth C. Griffin, Chief Executive Officer, Citadel LLC
• Gabriel Plotkin, Chief Executive Officer, Melvin Capital Management LP
• Steve Huffman, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder, Reddit
• Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, financial analyst

Basically, Rep. Waters would like to know if there was collusion between the trading app, Robinhood, and “some of the hedge funds.” During the surge, the trading app reportedly limited the ability to buy GameStop stocks.

In a podcast interview, Business Insider reported that Vlad Tenev, Robinhood CEO, admitted that they “could have communicated this a little bit better to customers.” This in relation to the 13-stock restriction set by Robinhood on January 28 for GameStop and AMC.

Meanwhile, hedge fund Citadel CEO is being called to appear to clarify its relationship with the trading app. As it turns out, the company’s “independent securities arm” has a “business relationship” with the trading app, says Coindesk.

Melvin Capital CEO, Gabriel Plotkin, on the other hand, had to “closed out its short position in GameStop” after taking a huge loss from the meme investing frenzy.

Why is Roaring Kitty being called to testify?

For those who don’t know Keith Gill is a well-known financial analyst and investor on Reddit, most especially under the subreddit r/wallstreetbets—where the GameStop stock frenzy started. The name “Roaring Kitty” is Gill’s YouTube profile.

Per a previous report by Fox News, Gill “helped drive” the “surge of interest” in buying the GME stocks.

The New York Times said Gill’s $53,000 investment on GME “briefly reached $48 million in value.” He attracted young online traders, following in his footsteps, and took on GameStop stocks which sparked the investing frenzy. Most, if not all, were members of the Reddit’s online trading community r/WallStreetBets.

Featured image courtesy of Mike Mozart/Flickr