Bitpay Adds Shiba Inu Crypto as Petition to List SHIB on Robinhood Exceeds 545K Signers

December 10, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Robinhood exec says proposal for a single digital asset regulator is stupid

November 19, 2021 Coin Telegraph

CFTC

Robinhood’s chief legal officer is not enamored with a recent Coinbase proposal for a separate regulatory body for the crypto space.

Robinhood’s chief legal officer Dan Gallagher described the idea of creating a new digital asset regulator was “just plain silly” at a conference on Nov. 17.

Robinhood is a popular commission-free trading app that offers digital assets, and rival crypto asset exchange Coinbase put foward the idea of a new regulator in October.

Gallagher told attendees at the Georgetown University Financial Markets Quality Conference that “it doesn’t make sense” to add additional agencies to “the alphabet soup of Washington.”

He went on to say that attempting to transfer authority from agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to another regulator was “one of the stupidest ideas I've heard in this space in a long time."

Gallagher previously served as a commissioner on the Securities and Exchange Commission during the Obama administration. He was speaking as part of the Future of Digital Assets Panel at the conference.

While he didn’t specifically mention Coinbase, the criticism was implied. On Oct. 14, Coinbase proposed a new federal regulatory body. Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad worte:

"To avoid fragmented and inconsistent regulatory oversight of these unique and concurrent innovations, responsibility over digital assets markets should be assigned to a single federal regulator."

Gallagher said Robinhood has taken a more conservative approach than Coinbase to avoid getting into regulatory hot water. Where Coinbase supports 51 different cryptocurrencies, Robinhood only supports seven.

“We have to be very careful and deliberate,” he said. “You can’t just be taking on new coins if by the next day some regulator is going to call them a security.”

Currently, the digital asset space is monitored by a number of government agencies, including the SEC and CFTC. The SEC deals with the regulation of securities like stocks and shares. It remains a hot topic of debate whether many cryptocurrencies count as securities or commodities.

Describing the current regulatory climate for digital asset exchanges, Gallagher said: “It’s a very tense situation, and it does call for regulatory clarity which we haven't seen yet.”

“You can’t just rush into whatever makes the most sense. You have to take on board what your current regulators might think of this new technology.”

Rather than creating an additional regulator, Gallagher suggested that the solution would be for the SEC, CFTC and FINRA “to create a regime with existing authority that’s light touch enough and recognizes the benefits of the technology.”

“You have to take into account entities in a regulatory framework that allows firms, companies, enterprises, individuals to be in a market where sometimes it’s a security, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s a commodity, sometimes it’s not. Right? And not worry that there’s going to be some gotcha that comes after you post facto.”

On Oct 27, CFTC acting chair Rostin Behnam suggested during his confirmation hearing that the agency is tasked with overseeing 60% of the digital asset market as the “primary cop on the beat.”

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November 17, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Robinhood Discusses Crypto Wallet Launch and Listing Strategy as Petition to List Shiba Inu Exceeds 526K Signers

November 11, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Robinhood COO praises Shiba Inu as crypto wallet waitlist grows to 1.6M

November 10, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Pressure is mounting for Robinhood to list one of the most popular meme coins on the market and the waitlist for the platform's crypto wallet has grown to 1.6 million users.

Robinhood COO Christine Brown has praised the Shiba Inu community but said safety was the platform’s priority over the “short term gain” of listing new tokens.

Brown made the comments in an interview for the Crypto Goes Mainstream event streamed live on YouTube on Nov. 10. When asked about Shiba Inu (SHIB) she said:

“One of my favorite things is seeing the community around these coins really engage with us and let us know what they want.”

However Brown would not be drawn on whether the American stock and crypto trading app would list Shiba Inu. SHIB is currently the 11th largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $30 billion.

The community has stepped up a campaign to convince Robinhood to list SHIB and a change.org petition has now obtained more than half a million signatures.

Brown stated that Robinhood is a “safety-first company” that closely assesses the regulatory feasibility of its listings.

“Our strategy is different than a lot of the other players out there who are racing to list as many assets as possible right now,” she said.

“We think that the short term gain to us is not worth the long-term trade off for our users.”

Brown also revealed that Robinhood’s crypto wallet waitlist has surpassed 1.6 million users. When launched, the crypto wallet will finally allow users to move cryptos on and off the platform. The high demand indicates users are eager to gain control over their coins.

SHIB is priced at $0.00005430 on Coingecko and has been on a downtrend since Nov.3 when a wallet holding about $5.7 billion USD of the token sprang back to life.

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Dogecoin Accounts for 40% of Robinhood’s Crypto Transaction Revenue in Q3

October 30, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Cathie Wood’s ARK snaps up $80M Robinhood shares after crypto led price dip

October 29, 2021 Coin Telegraph

<div>Cathie Wood's ARK snaps up M Robinhood shares after crypto led price dip</div>

ARK

Ark Investment took the opportunity to buy Robinhood shares at a discount following the trading company's unsatisfactory earnings report.

ARK Invest, the investment management firm focused on innovative tech led by Cathie Wood, took advantage of a dip in the price on Wednesday to buy nearly $80 million worth of Robinhood stock.

As per daily trading data, Wood’s ARK purchased a total of 2.24 million shares of Robinhood across three of Ark’s ETF funds, with the majority of shares going to the flagship fund ARK Innovation ETF. Robinhood now accounts for 1.33% of the Innovation ETF.

On Oct. 27, the trading platform had declared a 78% decline in crypto revenue — from $233 million in Q2 to $51 million in Q3 — which drove the share price down below its July IPO price of $38.

The stock is down more than -11% since the start of the week, from $39.85 on Monday 25 Oct. to $35.47 as of market close Thursday 28 Oct.

Following the earnings report analysts at JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Piper Sandler, Barclays and Deutsche Bank reduced their price targets significantly.

Earlier in the week, Ark sold a total of 57,106 shares of Tesla stock, worth $59 million, when the electric carmaker crossed the $1 trillion valuation.

Ark also bought the dip with $60M in Twitter stock on Wednesday after the social media company revealed diminishing user growth in its earnings report, causing the stock price to depreciate almost 11%.

Wood still has reasons to believe in Robinhood’s progress in crypto as more than 1 million people are on the waitlist for the app’s crypto wallet, albeit as that's the only way to withdraw crypto from the platform.

In early October, the trading app also introduced a 24/7 support line to improve customer service wait times and help users with crypto investments.

Although Wood passed on buying the first Bitcoin futures ETF she still remains bullish on crypto. Ark Invest partnered with 21 Shares to file for its own Bitcoin ETF in June.

Robinhood shares tank 10% after crypto revenue falls by three quarters

October 27, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Robinhood posted $51 million worth of transaction-based revenue from crypto in Q3, marking a 78% decrease compared to the previous quarter.

Robinhood shares (HOOD) have fallen sharply on the back of the firm’s Q3 results which posted lower than expected crypto trading revenue.

The popular retail trading firm published its Q3 report on Oct. 26, with crypto accounting for $51 million (19%) of the total $267 million worth of transaction-based revenue in the quarter.

The release of the report on Tuesday coincided with HOOD dropping around 10% to $35.70, however the price has since gained 1.9% to sit at $36.40 at the time of this writing.

The $51 million generated from crypto transactions in Q3 marked a 78% decrease compared to the firm’s record $233 million from Q2. Robinhood’s crypto revenue last quarter was bolstered by the Dogecoin (DOGE) community, with the memecoin representing a whopping 62% of crypto revenue.

The firm posted total net revenues of $365 million for the quarter, which fell well below Wall Street analysts predictions of $437.1 million according to FactSet.

BREAKING: #Robinhood shares plunge over 8% in aftermarket trading as Q4 revenue came in at $365 million, missing estimates of $431.5 million. $HOOD pic.twitter.com/Krl5TaOiuM
— Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) October 26, 2021

Robinhood stated in its Q3 report that its business had been impacted by several factors including seasonality, market volatility, retail trading behavior and unanticipated market events. The firm said that the same issues may persist in Q4.

“In the absence of any changes to the market environment or exogenous events, we believe this may result in quarterly revenues no greater than $325 million and full-year revenue of less than $1.8 billion,” the report read.

While crypto activity declined, Vlad Tenev, the CEO of Robinhood outlined his optimism for the firm’s long term prospects in digital assets, as he emphasized the new products and services built for retail traders in Q3, such as a digital wallet that will finally enable users to withdraw and deposit crypto to and from the platform:

"More than one million people have joined our crypto wallets waitlist to date. With 24/7 live phone support, we believe that Robinhood is becoming the most trusted and intuitive platform for retail and crypto investors.”

“And looking ahead, we're committed to delivering tax-advantaged retirement accounts to help everyone invest for the long term,” he added.

In broader terms than crypto in Robinhood’s Q3 report, the firm's total net revenues of $365 million marked a 35% decrease from the previous quarter. While the firm posted a net loss of $1.32 billion, or $2.06 per diluted share compared to a $502 million loss, or $2.16 per share, in Q2.

Monthly active users also dropped from 21.3 million in Q2 to 18.9 million last quarter. However, Robinhood’s user base could be set to increase in Q4, with speculation swirling around the Shiba Inu (SHIB) community that the dog themed token may be listed on the platform soon.

There is no evidence confirming this however. Robinhood did send out a survey on Oct. 23 to its customers regarding the crypto assets they purchased over the past three months, with SHIB making the list.

BREAKING NEWS: Robinhood is emailing this survey to select users of their platform.

They are including #SHIB as one of the answers to select!

Clearly doing market research on what their consumers want. pic.twitter.com/ovBNV2p0Wl
— Shiba Inu News (@ShibalnuNews) October 22, 2021

According to data from CoinGecko, the price of SHIB has gained around 69% over the past seven days to sit at $0.00004759 at the time of writing, while the asset is up a mammoth 568% over the last 30 days.

Robinhood CEO Says Waitlist for Firm’s New Crypto Wallet Reached 1 Million Customers

October 22, 2021 Bitcoin.com

robinhood