| Greetings, Quicktake readers! This week, Robinhood and Reddit take the spotlight during a congressional hearing on the January GameStop frenzy. Plus, NASA's rover makes it to Mars. Stream now for free.  Game Stopped?U.S. House lawmakers grilled key players in the GameStop saga Thursday in a hearing to determine what, if anything, Congress should do in response to the wild, Reddit-fueled swings in the stock market last month. The four execs at the heart of the controversy—Vlad Tenev of Robinhood, Ken Griffin of Citadel, Gabe Plotkin of Melvin Capital and Steve Huffman of Reddit, plus Keith Gill, aka "Roaring Kitty," one of the leading voices on WallStreetBets—faced questions over GameStop's meteoric rise driven by retail investors on Reddit and Robinhood's move to halt the rally. Their testimony laid bare how Wall Street's decades-old regulatory system has lagged behind Internet Age investors who can share information and make trades in nanoseconds.—Andrew Mach The key takeaways: - Democrats said markets are stacked against amateur traders. "Given the losses that many retail investors have sustained as a result of volatility, there are many whose belief that the system is rigged against them has been reinforced," Rep. Maxine Waters said.
- Republicans argued against limiting access to markets. "Instead of shutting the American public out through new regulations, new forms of taxation, or so-called protections, let's use this opportunity instead to side with them," Rep. Patrick McHenry said.
- Tenev defended the trading halt. He said Robinhood restricted sales of certain stocks to protect customers from losses and called allegations that it acted to help hedge funds "absolutely false."
- And he apologized for the miscommunication. "I'm sorry for what happened," he said and committed to reviewing "absolutely everything" about what happened in this episode.
- AOC questioned if free Robinhood trades are really free. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Tenev that his firm undercut its promise of free trades and said he "owes its customers a lot more than an apology because it has harmed their interests."
What to watch if...you need some hopeful news. Covid cases are dropping worldwide with hospitalizations down in the U.S. and deaths expected to fall sharply, suggesting measures to stem transmission are working, at least for now. ...you're a die-hard carnivore. Israeli startup Redefine Meat is targeting restaurants in Israel, Europe and Asia with its juicy sirloin steaks hot off a 3D printer after raising $29 million to build a large-scale pilot factory. ...you're in a DIY mood. With Mardi Gras parades sidelined by the pandemic, New Orleans residents channeled their revelry into vibrant, whimsical "house floats" as part of a new tradition called "Yardi Gras."  Episodes to binge watch nowOne question, answeredIs climate change to blame for the Texas cold snap? The energy crisis brought on by sub-zero temperatures in the South was, in part, due to rapidly warming air above the Arctic that weakened the polar vortex, which allowed frigid air corralled at the North Pole to spill out and roll south.  We want to knowWhere were you when the U.S. landed on Mars? Cheers erupted at 3:55 p.m. ET when Perseverance, NASA's largest and most sophisticated rover, successfully touched down on the Red Planet in search of ancient life and captured the first image from the Martian surface. Tell us your reaction to the historic feat here.  Our favorites of the weekWe launched a 24/7 streaming network to reinvent news with live global coverage and original shows on business, tech, politics and culture. Make sense of the biggest stories changing your business and your world. Stream now for free. | 
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