House China Committee Report Ties Webull to Beijing, Triggering Sharp Slide in BULL Shares

A bipartisan House Select Committee on China report released Wednesday concluded that digital brokerage Webull is "tied in structural ways" to the People's Republic of China, citing its ownership, workforce, technology infrastructure, data routing, financing and compliance arrangements as a national security risk to U.S. finance, according to CNBC. Shares of Webull (BULL) fell sharply following the release.

What the committee found

The committee said it identified "a profound gap" between Webull's public marketing of itself as "an American company" and the actual control of the St. Petersburg, Florida-based firm, whose software development, data pipelines and core engineering operations it said depend on infrastructure subject directly to Beijing's laws, CNBC reported.

The report traces Webull's origins to Hunan Fumi Information Technology Co., Ltd., the Chinese company that originally launched the business, per the committee's findings as reported by CNBC. The panel said concerns had "escalated" since October 2025, when, citing a regulatory filing, Webull began carrying customer cash directly, which the report describes as a "structural exposure of billions of dollars in American capital."

Committee Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., who chairs the panel that issued the report, told CNBC that Webull's "China-based operations put American investors and their data at risk," adding that "using technology providers in mainland China and an opaque China-linked ownership structure, Webull exposes its data to our foremost adversary" and that "investors should heed this information when choosing who they do business with." The committee, which had requested information from Webull in 2024, said the firm represents a national security risk because "critical backend systems, personnel and data flows may remain exposed to the Chinese Communist Party's mandatory intelligence laws and coercive demands," according to the CNBC report.

Corporate structure and workforce

According to the committee's findings as reported by CNBC, Webull Corp. is a Cayman Islands-incorporated holding company that the report says holds $24.6 billion in customer assets. The group's structure, per the report, includes a U.S. holding company, Webull Holdings (US) Inc.; a Singapore-based entity, Webull Technologies Pte. Ltd.; and a mainland China-based subsidiary that supports technology development and platform operations.

The committee said Webull initially told it that the firm "does not have any offices or employees based in the PRC" and that "all Firm employees are located in the United States." The report counters that the company's mainland subsidiary, Hunan Weibu, had grown to 863 employees, or 62% of Webull's global workforce, CNBC reported.

Webull's U.S. securities business operates through Webull Financial LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA, SIPC, the NYSE, Nasdaq and Cboe EDGX, according to disclosures on Webull's own site. Client securities accounts at Webull Financial LLC carry SIPC coverage up to $500,000, with a $250,000 cash sublimit, plus excess coverage tied to the firm's omnibus clearing relationship with Apex. Webull describes itself as serving more than 28 million registered users globally across 18 markets through a network of licensed brokerages, per a company announcement carried by StockTitan; the available reporting does not break that figure down by U.S.-only accounts or U.S.-custodied assets separate from the $24.6 billion group-wide figure cited in the committee report.

Webull's response

Webull disputed the findings. A company spokesperson said, as quoted by CNBC, that "it is deeply disappointing that the Select Committee published a report containing significant inaccuracies and unsupported conclusions without ever seeking clarification from Webull." The spokesperson added that "Webull's U.S. business is conducted from its global headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida and its office in New York City, while U.S. customer data is stored in the U.S. and access to sensitive customer data is controlled by the U.S.," and said the firm remains "prepared to address any questions directly and with the same transparency we bring to the SEC, FINRA, and regulators worldwide."

Shares slide on the report

Webull stock fell 15% Wednesday morning following the report's release, according to Yahoo Finance, whose coverage also displayed BULL at -19.23%. The two figures appear in the same report and reflect different measurement points; the reporting does not specify the timing of the second read, and the two numbers should not be read as separate, stacked declines. Yahoo Finance attributed the decline to concerns about how the committee's findings could affect Webull's U.S. operations and regulatory standing, noting the assessment arrives amid broader scrutiny of Chinese-linked technology and financial services firms in American markets. The available reporting does not detail trading volume on the day.

Context on Capitol Hill

The report's release comes days after a summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in September that CNBC described as largely friendly, and ahead of further meetings between the two leaders later this year. CNBC's reporting frames the committee's work as reflecting concern in Congress that the Chinese government could be embedding itself inside the U.S. financial system in ways that could later be used to disrupt the American economy in the event of further conflict. Webull was founded in 2016 by former Alibaba and Xiaomi manager Wang Anquan and competes with Robinhood, Charles Schwab and E-Trade, per CNBC.

Bottom Line

The House Select Committee on China's report lays out specific structural claims about Webull's ownership, workforce concentration in mainland China, and customer-asset exposure that the company disputes point by point. What remains unresolved in the public record so far is what concrete regulatory or legislative follow-up, if any, the committee intends to pursue, and how the dispute over basic facts, such as the location and size of Webull's workforce, gets settled. Investors weighing the stock's reaction are dealing with a contested set of claims rather than a finalized regulatory outcome.