House committee finds Webull's China ties pose national security risk

Webull: Webull is a digital investment platform that provides retail and institutional investors with access to global stocks, ETFs, options, futures, and digital assets through a network of licensed brokerages. Founded in 2016, it presents itself as an American company headquartered in Florida but maintains deep operational and technological links to China via its corporate structure and subsidiaries. A new bipartisan congressional report details how these ties, including data routing and engineering operations, create potential exposure to Chinese government demands under national intelligence laws. Wang Anquan: Wang Anquan founded Webull in 2016 following executive roles at Alibaba and Xiaomi. His leadership established the platform's early operations through a Chinese technology company before its expansion into global markets. The congressional assessment of Webull's structural ties to China connects directly to the firm's origins and ongoing development under his founding vision. John Moolenaar: John Moolenaar is the Republican Representative from Michigan who chairs the House Select Committee on China. He has warned that Webull's reliance on China-based technology providers and ownership structures exposes American investor data to risks from a primary U.S. adversary. Moolenaar emphasized the need for investors to factor these findings into their choices of financial service providers. House Select Committee on China: The House Select Committee on China is a bipartisan panel of the U.S. House of Representatives that examines strategic competition with the People's Republic of China. In its latest report, the committee scrutinized Webull's ownership, workforce distribution, and technology infrastructure, determining that they pose national security risks to U.S. investors and financial data. The panel, which previously sought information from the company, highlights gaps between the firm's public image and its actual control mechanisms. Regulation: The release of findings on brokerage operations coincides with ongoing U.S.-China diplomatic engagements, underscoring Capitol Hill concerns about potential economic disruption tools. Geopolitics: Lawmakers highlight how opaque ownership and operational concentration in certain jurisdictions could create leverage points for adversarial influence in American capital markets. National Security: A bipartisan congressional report warns that critical backend systems and data flows at certain U.S.-facing financial platforms may be subject to foreign government intelligence laws.