Popular trading app Robinhood sees growing importance in cryptocurrencies but does not plan to hold bitcoin as an investment, CEO Vladimir Tenev stated in an interview.
Tenev acknowledged that holding bitcoin has been considered, given the platform’s increasing focus on crypto. However, beyond holding coins to facilitate client trading, the company has refrained from keeping Bitcoin on its balance sheet as an investment.
“We wouldn’t rule it out. We haven’t done it thus far,” Tenev said during an interview with Anthony Pompliano, adding, “We’re not in the business of being an investment manager.”
Tenev explained that Robinhood’s stock performance is already tied closely to bitcoin’s price movement, even without holding the cryptocurrency in its treasury. The company’s share price has risen 202% year-to-date, compared to bitcoin’s 110% return over the same period.
The CEO suggested that adding bitcoin to Robinhood’s balance sheet might “complicate” how investors perceive the company, positioning it as a “quasi-bitcoin-holding play.” He highlighted Robinhood’s primary role as a platform for facilitating client trading rather than as a direct crypto investor.
In November, Bernstein analysts named Robinhood the top “crypto deregulation trade” after Donald Trump’s presidential election victory. They projected a 20% growth in Robinhood’s crypto revenues by 2025, with cryptocurrency accounting for 38% of its total revenue.
While Robinhood has been cautious about its crypto offerings, listing fewer tokens than rivals like Coinbase and Kraken, this approach is expected to shift during Trump’s presidency as deregulation policies are implemented.
The company is also set to complete its acquisition of crypto exchange Bitstamp in the first half of 2025.
Earlier in October, Robinhood Crypto, the company’s crypto subsidiary, launched the new feature allowing European customers to transfer around 20 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ether, to and from other platforms such as exchanges or wallets.
This development follows Robinhood’s entry into the European crypto market in late 2023, where customers could initially only trade crypto on its platform without the ability to transfer assets in or out. The expansion now simplifies self-custody and access to decentralized finance (DeFi) for users, giving them more control over their crypto holdings.
