(Bloomberg) -- Robinhood Markets Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vlad Tenev said that his firm, which has been probed by US financial regulators over its cryptocurrency operations, benefits from government oversight.

“I think customers want to know that their assets are safe and that someone is watching over the companies that are providing financial services to them and holding them accountable,” Tenev said in a Bloomberg Television interview Tuesday. “I actually think regulation is good for our business, not just good for customers, and we know how to operate in a highly regulated arena.”

Robinhood said Monday that the US Securities and Exchange Commission closed an investigation into the firm’s cryptocurrency operations and isn’t pursuing any enforcement action. The company had disclosed last year that it received what’s known as a Wells notice, indicating the SEC had initially determined to recommend an enforcement action. Robinhood said Monday that “this investigation never should have been opened.”

Tenev said some regulations need to change, particularly those requiring that individual investors be accredited before they’re allowed to invest in closely held companies. Robinhood wants to use its platform to allow retail investors to buy stakes in firms such as SpaceX and OpenAI.

“The accreditation rules have to be rethought,” Tenev said. “A lot of these rules were created in a different time, where the problem was lack of information,” he said, adding that the internet has made data on closely held firms much more widely available. “So I think that’s why the rules have to be rethought. I think they were put in for good reasons, but those reasons no longer hold.”

--With assistance from Sonali Basak and Tim Stenovec.

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