Shares of Webull, the 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 the company a national security risk. Such reports carry no force of law on their own, but their findings can shape follow-up hearings, legislation, and regulatory scrutiny.

The platform facilitates trading in traditional equities and derivatives, as well as cryptocurrencies and event-based prediction markets, where contracts pay out based on real-world outcomes such as election results.

According to the US House of Representatives' Select Committee on China, a panel formed in 2023 to examine economic and security competition between Washington and Beijing, "a profound gap" exists between Webull's marketing of itself as "an American company" and the parties that actually fund and influence it.

The panel's report concludes that Webull's ownership, workforce, technology, data flows, financing and compliance are all "tied in structural ways" to China.

Conflicting accounts on China operations

As part of the investigation, Webull initially 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 company's global headcount.

In December 2024, Congressmen John Moolenaar, the panel's chairman, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, its ranking Democrat, wrote to Webull CEO Anthony Denier 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 the 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 — a merger-based route to public markets that bypasses the traditional IPO process. Its market capitalization exceeded $32 billion on April 14, 2025, and currently stands at $4.1 billion.

Trading platform Webull's China ties create national security risk, congressional panel finds
— CNBC (@CNBC) October 7, 2026

Webull rejects the findings

Webull pushed back against the report. A spokesperson said, "It is deeply disappointing that the Select Committee published a report containing significant inaccuracies and unsupported conclusions without ever seeking clarification from Webull."

The company added that it runs its US business from Florida and New York, and maintained that American customer data stays on US soil.

Insider selling and $24.6 billion in customer assets

The stakes extend beyond Webull's brand value or the price of its stock. In October 2025, the brokerage accepted custody of customer money, holding client funds and securities directly rather than routing them through an outside clearing firm. The committee alleges that move created a "structural exposure of billions of dollars in American capital" worth $24.6 billion.

Anthony Denier, Webull's president, sold 53,846 shares on Monday, less than 48 hours before the report's release. Although the timing was unfortunate, the sale was carried out under a trading plan he adopted in May, a pre-arranged schedule that lets executives sell shares at set times and is designed to insulate them from accusations of trading on material nonpublic information.

Insider transactions in Webull shares have been entirely lopsided to the sell side, with no insider purchases recorded year-to-date.

The stock's all-time high of $79.56 was set on April 14, 2025, one trading session after its Nasdaq debut. With shares trading below $5.80, Webull shareholders have lost 92% of their investment since that peak.