robinhood
Grayscale’s GBTC and ETHE products now available on Robinhood
The discount brokerage has seen a steep decline in crypto-related revenue over the past 12 months as retail traders exited the market.
Digital asset manager Grayscale has made its flagship Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) products available on Robinhood, the popular trading app open to millions of retail users.
Beginning on Friday, Robinhood users will be able to trade Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and Ethereum Trust (ETHE) directly through the app. Shares of GBTC provide investors with direct exposure to Bitcoin in the form of a security without having to buy or store the digital asset directly. ETHE, meanwhile, operates as an open-end investment company whose shares reflect the value of Ether held by the trust.
Finally! You can now trade Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and Grayscale Ethereum Trust on Robinhood$GBTC $ETHE https://t.co/MzOJxvI7GG
— Barry Silbert (@BarrySilbert) May 6, 2022
Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust is the largest investment vehicle dedicated to the leading crypto asset. As of May 2, the trust had $24.6 billion in assets under management. Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust, meanwhile, had over $329 million in assets.
Here’s a look at our 14 single asset crypto investment funds as of 5/2/2022.
— Grayscale (@Grayscale) May 2, 2022
AUM and other stats on all Grayscale products are updated daily on our website: https://t.co/smju2moRYQ$BAT $BCH $BTC $ETC $ETH $FIL $LINK $LPT $LTC $MANA $SOL $XLM $ZEC $ZEN pic.twitter.com/sv5FLsd0uW
Robinhood operates a discount brokerage that provides retail investors with low-barrier entry to financial markets, including crypto. In the first quarter, the firm’s revenue declined by 43% year-over-year as sales from cryptocurrency trading dropped by 39%. Despite the decline, Robinhood’s net cumulative funded accounts increased 27% year-over-year. Currently, Robinhood lists over 20 cryptocurrencies for trading on its platform.
Related: Robinhood axes almost 1 in 10 staff members as stock hits all-time low
Retail traders’ embrace of crypto peaked in the first half of 2021, a period that coincided with multiple record highs for Bitcoin and the broader market. However, retail interest has declined significantly since then, as evidenced by Google search trends and a lack of new capital entering the market.
Robinhood makes significant strides in crypto business in Q1 despite falling revenue
The popular discount brokerage listed four trending tokens in Q1 2022.
On April 28, discount-brokerage platform Robinhood published its financial results for the first quarter of 2022. Year-over-year, the firm's net revenue declined by 43% to $299 million. Specifically, revenue from cryptocurrency trading fell by 39% to $54 million during the same period. This was partly due to a decrease in the interest in meme stocks as well as an ongoing cryptocurrency bear market that dominated much of the first three months of the year.
However, despite a decrease in sales, the company's net cumulative funded accounts rose by 27% year-over-year to 22.8 million. At the same time, total assets under custody increased 15% to $93.1 billion. Robinhood took several important steps in enhancing its crypto business. First, the firm rolled out crypto wallets to the approximately two million waitlisted customers in early April, with a full roll-out completed this week.
Then, in response to customer requests, Robinhood listed four new coins; Compound (COMP), Polygon (MATIC), Solana (SOL) and Shiba Inu (SHIB). Finally, Robinhood plans to integrate with layer-2 Bitcoin (BTC) payment protocol Lightning Network for faster transactions with lower fees. As told by Robinhood:
"Once fully integrated, we expect the service to help accelerate Robinhood's ability to serve Bitcoin remittances on a global scale — at virtually no cost — and will be important for international expansion."
This month, Robinhood signed an agreement to acquire Ziglu, a U.K.-based electronic money institution and crypto firm, as part of its roadmap. Robinhood plans to leverage Ziglu's team of financial services and crypto experts to help the company expand across the United Kingdom and Europe.
Robinhood axes almost 1 in 10 staff members as stock hits all-time low
“We determined that making these reductions to Robinhood’s staff is the right decision to improve efficiency,” noted Robinhood CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev.
Popular retail trading platform Robinhood has fired 9% of its workforce amid a firesale of its stock that has seen HOOD plunge to all-time lows.
In the past 30 days alone, HOOD has tanked roughly 38% to sit at $9.99 at the time of writing, marking the lowest price since the initial public offering (IPO) launch in mid-2021.
The decline is part of a longer-term bearish trend that has seen the price of HOOD continually decrease since its all-time high of roughly $70.39 on Aug. 4 2021 according to TradingView.
Robinhood publicly announced its staff readjustment via an April 26 blog post by CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev. He noted that after going through a “period of hyper-growth” between 2020 and H1 2021, the firm’s headcount had increased nearly six times, from 700 to nearly 3800 employees.
However, Tenev suggested that too many job roles at the company have since become unnecessary, stating that:
“This rapid headcount growth has led to some duplicate roles and job functions, and more layers and complexity than are optimal. After carefully considering all these factors, we determined that making these reductions to Robinhood’s staff is the right decision to improve efficiency.”
“We will retain and continue to hire exceptional talent in key roles and provide additional learning and career growth opportunities for our employees,” he added.
Related: Robinhood CEO outlines how DOGE could become ‘currency of the internet’
Crypto to help drive the recovery?
Moving forward, Robinhood stated in the announcement that it is positioned well for the future with more than $6 billion worth of cash on its balance sheet, while also noting that it will continue to introduce “key new products across Brokerage, Crypto, and Spending/Saving” in 2022.
The firm’s total revenue last year totaled $1.82 billion, up 89% compared to 2020, and a significant part of Robinhood’s performance was due to revenue generated from crypto services.
Crypto transaction revenue totalled $419 million in 2021 marking a whopping 1451% increase compared to the year prior. In Q2 2021 in particular, crypto accounted for 41% of Robinhood’s total revenue, however it's worth noting that the figure dropped down to around 13% by Q4.
Robinhood doesn’t appear to be losing interest in the sector this year however, and has made many moves geared towards expanding its crypto offerings of late.
On April 19, Cointelegraph reported that Robinhood acquired British crypto-asset firm Ziglu to help its expansion plans into U.K. and European markets, something which Tenev highlighted will “continue to accelerate” this year.
Earlier this month, Robinhood also rolled out its highly anticipated crypto wallet to 2 million waitlisted users, outlined plans to integrate the Lighting Network, and it listed Shiba Inu (SHIB) after months of campaigning from its supporters.
Robinhood Begins European Expansion, Acquiring Regulated UK-Based Crypto Firm Ziglu
Nasdaq-listed trading platform Robinhood is acquiring Ziglu, a London-based electronic money institution and crypto asset firm. The acquisition is part of Robinhood’s international expansion plan. Robinhood “sees a big opportunity in serving customers across the globe.” Robinhood Acquiring Regulated Crypto Firm Ziglu Popular U.S.-based trading platform Robinhood announced Tuesday that it has signed an agreement […]Robinhood acquires British crypto firm Ziglu to push expansion plans
Robinhood has renewed its global expansion plans by acquiring the British crypto firm Ziglu after aborting its U.K. expansion back in 2020.
Robinhood, a major cryptocurrency-friendly stock trading app, is pushing global expansion by acquiring the United Kingdom-based crypto asset firm Ziglu.
Robinhood officially announced Tuesday that it had signed a deal to acquire Ziglu, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. The firm declined to disclose the size of the deal to Cointelegraph.
“Subject to regulatory approval, in the near term, nothing will change for current Ziglu customers. Longer-term, we’ll integrate Ziglu more fully into Robinhood, bring the Robinhood brand overseas and work to expand operations beyond the U.K. into Europe,” the spokesperson for Robinhood said.
The acquisition aims to help Robinhood accelerate its international expansion and finally enter markets both in the United Kingdom and across Europe. The move comes in line with Robinhood’s renewed expansion efforts this year after the platform previously aborted its ambitious expansion plans in countries like the United Kingdom back in 2020.
This aged well… https://t.co/OCQNby71Cw https://t.co/YgjYSHVGru
— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) April 19, 2022
As Cointelegraph reported, Ziglu was founded by former Barclays technology head and Starling bank co-founder Mark Hipperson in 2020. The firm provides a digital platform that enables customers to buy and sell eleven cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and others. The Ziglu platform also allows users to yield rewards and pay for services using a debit card.
Robinhood is a major online brokerage known for offering a commission-free investing and trading platform in the United States. Robinhood became widely known in the crypto community after the company rolled out trading of major cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH in 2018.
Related: FTX expands to Europe with CySEC approval
Despite some controversy around its trading policies and the increased attention from U.S regulators last year, Robinhood has been pushing development recently. The company rolled out its digital wallet feature for 2 million additional users in early April 2022, announcing plans to integrate the Lightning Network.
DOGE price analysis hints at 30% drop despite Elon Musk’s Twitter bid
The head and shoulders pattern emerging on Dogecoin charts suggests a lack of upside conviction among DOGE traders.
The brief Dogecoin (DOGE) price rally last week following Tesla CEO Elon Musk's bid to buy Twitter appears to be fizzling out as DOGE closes the week over 8%.
DOGE's price dropped to $0.142 on April 17, three days after peaking out locally at $0.149. The Dogecoin correction, albeit modest, raised its potential to trigger a classic bearish reversal pattern with an 85% success rate of reaching its downside target.
DOGE price eyes drop under $0.10
Dubbed head and shoulders (H&S), the pattern appears when the price forms three peaks in a row, with the middle one, called the "head," in between the other two, which are of almost equal height, and are thus called the left and right "shoulders."
These three peaks hold above a common support level called the "neckline." As the theory goes, the price typically breaks below the neckline after forming the third peak, or the right shoulder, and falls by as much as the H&S's maximum height, i.e., the distance between the head's top and neckline.
It appears DOGE has been forming a similar structure at least since March 24. The cryptocurrency now eyes a drop to the neckline after forming its right shoulder, followed by a full-fledged bearish breakout, as shown in the chart below.
As a result, Dogecoin's probability of correcting toward its H&S neckline near $0.132 appears higher, down about 7.5% below today's price. The level coincides with DOGE's 50-day simple moving average (50-day SMA; the blue wave), thus providing additional support.
A decisive breakout move below the support confluence could risk triggering the H&S setup, with the downside target sitting below $1, down almost 30% below today's price.
Interestingly, the target appears close to the lower trendline of the descending channel pattern that has enveloped Dogecoin's price moves since December 2021.
The "Musk effect"
Musk continues to be an influential catalyst behind Dogecoin's interim price trends.
The news of him buying a 9.2% stake in Twitter on April 4 helped boost DOGE's price by more than 20% to $0.174 a day after, its best level in almost three months.
A correction followed as traders locked interim profits, only for DOGE price to rebound again after Musk showed intentions to acquire Twitter in its entirety for $43 billion.
Related: AMC Theaters mobile app accepts Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and more
Enthusiasts believe that the "Musk effect" and his growing influence on Twitter could boost Dogecoin adoption and price, their sentiment furthered by Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev, who earlier this week said DOGE could become the "currency of the internet."
#dogecoin + Elon Musk + Twitter + Popularity = $10 future value let’s go $Doge #DogecoinToTheMoon
— Dogecoin and Bitcoin HODL (@HodlDogecoin) April 15, 2022
Musk has supported the idea so far, suggesting the Twitter board introduce a DOGE payment option for the social media's Twitter Blue monthly subscription service.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Elon Musk Tweets About Dogecoin Becoming ‘Currency of the Internet’ With DOGE Co-Creator and Robinhood CEO
Three prominent figures in the crypto world say that popular meme token Dogecoin (DOGE) could become “the people’s currency” under the right circumstances. In a recent Twitter conversation, billionaire Elon Musk, DOGE co-creator Billy Markus and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev discuss what it would take for the dog-themed crypto asset to become the currency of […]
The post Elon Musk Tweets About Dogecoin Becoming ‘Currency of the Internet’ With DOGE Co-Creator and Robinhood CEO appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Robinhood’s CEO, Elon Musk, and DOGE Co-Founder Billy Markus Discuss Improving Dogecoin
On Thursday, following Robinhood’s listing of shiba inu, the co-founder and CEO of Robinhood, Vladimir Tenev, spoke about dogecoin being the future currency of the internet on Twitter. Tenev’s Twitter thread got a lot of comments and also received responses from the co-founder of the meme-based crypto, Billy Markus, and Tesla’s Elon Musk. Robinhood CEO […]Robinhood CEO outlines how DOGE could become ‘currency of the internet’
Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev took to Twitter to explain how DOGE could become the future currency of the internet just hours after Dogecoin’s creator criticized Elon Musk for his Twitter antics.
Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev took to Twitter on Thursday afternoon to explain how Dogecoin could become the “future currency of the internet.”
In a thread of 12 posts to his nearly 200,000 followers, Tenev outlined what steps need to be taken to transform the memecoin into a usable asset for everyday payments and transactions on the internet.
Can #Doge truly be the future currency of the Internet and the people? As we added the ability to send/receive DOGE on Robinhood, I’ve been thinking about what that would take.
— VLAD (@vladtenev) April 14, 2022
Tenev began by drawing attention to the fact that Dogecoin’s transaction fees — roughly $0.003 per transaction — are already small enough to place the altcoin as a feasible e-cash frontrunner.
He believes the block size and the block time of Dogecoin are the main areas that require improvement if the cryptocurrency is to become widely adopted.
Ideally, the block time (time between successive blocks being added to the chain and to verify a transaction) should be fast enough that the transaction can be recorded in the next block in less time than it takes to pay at a point of sale terminal.
— VLAD (@vladtenev) April 14, 2022
Dogecoin currently has a 1MB block size and a 1 minute block time which means that Dogecoin’s total throughput stands at approximately 40 transactions per second (TPS).
In comparison, the VISA network has a throughput of approximately 65,000 TPS — meaning that DOGE would need to increase its total throughput by roughly 1,625 times in order to be on par with VISA. Tenev says that this isn’t a worry, and can be solved simply by increasing DOGE’s block size limit from 1MB to 1GB and eventually to 10GB.
Tenev finished the thread with a message to the developers of Dogecoin, urging them to focus on increasing the block size limit above all else.
This just in: Guy who loves databases wants to turn memecoin into a database. https://t.co/EzVSomnJwq
— kain.eth L222 (@kaiynne) April 15, 2022
Tenev’s thread was published just three hours after Dogecoin creator Jackson Palmer took aim at former "Dogecoin CEO" Elon Musk’s planned potential hostile takeover of Twitter.
“It takes some pretty impressive mental gymnastics to associate any type of ‘freedom’ with the richest man in the world initiating a hostile takeover and forcing one of the largest public social media platforms private,” said Palmer in a tweet to his 41,000 followers.
Palmer doesn’t mince words when it comes to criticizing Musk. In mid-May last year, Palmer called Musk a “self absorbed grifter” and claimed that the billionaire’s viral performance on Saturday Night Live was “cringe, bro.”
The price of Dogecoin remains relatively unaffected by these recent events, with the token trading sideways between the $0.14 and $0.15 mark over the past seven days.