Robinhood reported an almost 500% quarter-over-quarter jump in revenue from cryptocurrency transactions on Wednesday as the online brokerage and trading app announced a record-breaking quarter for profit and revenue.
Crypto revenue rose to a record $358 million in Q4, and overall revenue skyrocketed 37% to $1.01 billion from the previous quarter. With an earnings per share of $1.01, the trading app posted a net income of $916 million and beat analysts’ predictions of 42 cents, according to data from the Dogecoin trading on its platform.
Digital assets have been a major business line for Robinhood for more than five years.
In 2018, the company Bitcoin and Ether, the world’s two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
The firm eventually expanded the number of digital assets it offered users and listed Solana, Polygon, and Cardano, among other tokens. It also unveiled a crypto wallet and created its own crypto payment rails, which allow customers on other crypto apps to buy digital assets through Robinhood.
The company’s crypto ambitions have landed it in the crosshairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In February 2023, the regulator issued subpoenas to Robinhood concerning its crypto business. One year later, in May 2024, agency lawyers notified the online brokerage that they had recommended that the SEC pursue litigation against the firm.
However, after the election of Donald Trump, the regulator has signaled a change in its combative crypto policy, as Mark Uyeda, the acting chairman, announced a new crypto task force in January to hammer out rules for the industry.
And Tenev, Robinhood’s CEO, has remained consistent in his belief that crypto is part of finance’s future. He believes tokenization, when financial assets are put on blockchains, is the “next transition” for financial services, he told Fortune in July.
