Robinhood not giving up on crypto despite Q3 crypto revenue slashing 12%

The Robinhood CEO also announced the brokerage firm’s plans to expand the Robinhood Wallet internationally in the months to come.

Crypto and stock trading platform Robinhood highlighted lagging cryptocurrency revenue in the third quarter of 2022, though the results will do little to dampen its ambition to serve the market, its CEO says. 

The trading platform announced its third-quarter results on Nov. 2, with the Robinhood executives pointing to a 12% quarter-on-quarter decrease in Monthly Active Users (MAU) and a 24% quarter-on-quarter drop in notional volume as two of the main drivers behind a 12% fall in crypto revenue, reaching $51 million.

In a results filing, the company attributed the fall in active users and trading volume as “customers continued to navigate the volatile market environment.”

Despite this, the company’s executives said it would continue investing its resources into the crypto space, including rolling out support for more cryptocurrencies, a new international retail-focused wallet and NFT-related features on its platform.

Robinhood rolled out the Beta of its Polygon-based Robinhood Web3 Wallet to 10,000 customers on Sept. 27, with more than 1 million on the waitlist. Robinhood also integrated Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin a day later.

During the conference call, Robinhood’s CEO Vladimir Tenev said the firm is planning to offer the Robinhood Wallet to its international retail base in the months to come.

When asked about Robinhood’s plans for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), Tenev said they will likely integrate a feature to view and custody NFTs in the near future. However, connecting to NFT marketplaces didn’t appear to be on Tenev’s radar for the short term.

Tenev also noted that “customers have asked for Robinhood to add more blockchains to increase the breadth of coins available for them to swap and trade.”

While Tenev noted that several more coins were rolled out in Q3, he stressed that Robinhood would not compromise on its vision to become “the safest, most trusted” cryptocurrency service provider:

“We hope that customers understand and appreciate that we’re moving carefully […] Sometimes, that means moving a little bit slower than a lot of these other crypto companies. But we want to be extremely deliberate and to help protect customers and their money.”

Related: Robinhood lands steep 60% discount on $170M exchange acquisition: Report

Tenev also noted that Robinhood rolled out a free “Learn and Earn” cryptocurrency education program as a means to educate and retain a broader retail base over the long term.

As for Q4 2022, Robinhood’s said it will continue to make progress on its Robinhood Wallet, in addition to its Lightning Network integration.

Robinhood finished the quarter with a net loss of $175 million despite its total net revenue increasing 14% to $361 million. While its adjusted EBITDA was $47 million.

According to Investopedia, Robinhood’s net loss of $0.20 per share for Q3 2022 beat estimates.

Robinhood’s (HOOD) share price dropped 4.36% to $11.40 on Nov. 3, and is down 69.22% over the last 12 months, according to Yahoo Finance.