Robinhood Aims for Crypto Dominance with Expanding Offerings and Growth Strategy

Robinhood is shifting its focus towards becoming a major player in cryptocurrency, announcing significant revenue growth and product expansions during its Q1 2025 earnings call. CEO Vlad Tenev emphasized the importance of this strategy, which includes the acquisition of Bitstamp and a broadening of coin offerings. Despite strong performance metrics, Robinhood faces risks from volatility in the crypto market and regulatory uncertainties.

Robinhood, aiming to evolve beyond its ‘just a brokerage app’ label, has announced ambitious plans to cement its status as a significant player in the cryptocurrency sector. During the earnings call on April 30, CEO Vlad Tenev expressed enthusiasm about the company’s growing global crypto strategy.

In the first quarter of 2025, Robinhood’s crypto transaction revenue hit $252 million, an impressive doubling compared to the same period last year. This remarkable figure contributed over 43% to the total transaction revenue, even with a slight decline in crypto trading volumes of 35% from the previous quarter. Year on year, volumes still grew by 28%, reaching $46 billion.

The firm’s commitment to crypto isn’t just a passing phase. In the same quarter, Robinhood boosted its U.S. crypto offerings from 21 to 26 coins, while its European selections grew from 39 to 48. Adding to the excitement, the company is set to acquire Bitstamp, a prominent name among cryptocurrency exchanges.

Tenev noted that this acquisition would allow Robinhood to tap into a wider customer base and offer institutional-grade capabilities through improved infrastructure and licensing within important international markets. The deal is poised to close by mid-year, pending regulatory nods, and heralds a shift from its initial retail-focused crypto model to a comprehensive and vertically aligned platform.

In more good news, Robinhood reported a revenue leap of 50% year on year, totalling $927 million, alongside a net income surge of 114%, amounting to $336 million. The firm also registered significant increases in user engagement, attracting nearly 2 million new funded accounts, reaching 25.8 million total accounts.

The overall assets on Robinhood’s platform swelled by 70%, hitting $221 billion, with crypto holdings making up $25 billion of that. The company announced innovative product launches, like Robinhood Cortex, which is designed as an AI-driven investment guide for users, and Robinhood Strategies, a new managed investment service managing assets across 40,000 users.

Another area of focus has been on Robinhood Gold, its premium subscription service seeing a growth of 90%, now serving 3.2 million subscribers, which equates to 12% of funded accounts. These premium users are key, allegedly holding nearly five times the assets of non-Gold subscribers. CFO Jason Warnick highlighted the company’s strategy aims at fulfilling the entire spectrum of user financial needs in trading, banking, and crypto.

PYMNTS data shows that mobile banking is prevalent among younger generations, with 60% of millennials and 57% of Generation Z primarily using these apps. Furthermore, 94% of respondents recognised an improvement in access to financial services through tech, underscoring the promising market for Robinhood.

For the quarter, Robinhood’s net deposits amounted to $18 billion, a 37% increase in annualised growth. Over twelve months, net deposits reached $57.3 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth rate of 44%.

Yet, not all is sunshine and rainbows for Robinhood. The notoriously unpredictable crypto markets pose ongoing risks that could flip trading volume trends on their head. Furthermore, the regulatory landscape presents uncertainty, particularly as the firm expands internationally. U.S. lawmakers are currently working on regulations surrounding retail crypto trading and stablecoins—two areas Robinhood intends to explore further along with the Bitstamp acquisition.