Robinhood ‘hulk smashes’ earnings as push to diversify revenue pays off

The fintech “hulk smashe[d]” its earnings, Dan Dolev, a senior analyst at Mizuho Securities, said in a short note after Robinhood posted its quarterly results. 

The online brokerage, which lets users trade stocks as well as digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, posted gaudy results despite a decline in crypto transaction revenue, which dipped 36% from the previous quarter to $160 million.

In the past, Robinhood’s quarterly fortunes have been closely tied to booms and busts in retail traders’ activity in markets. During the crypto craze of early 2021, for instance, its revenue from crypto transactions made up 41% of the company’s topline. But, amid the most recent so-called Crypto Winter, that percentage dipped to as low as 5% in the third quarter of 2023.

As Robinhood rode the ups and downs of the stock and crypto trading cycle, the company began to build out its business to not rely merely on the whims of retail traders. It expanded its subscription business, launched its own credit card, and let users trade on margin, or take out loans to buy and sell more stock. It also pushed into banking while working expand its business in Europe and the U.K.

“In 2021, when we went public, it felt to me like we were much more fragile than today,” Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said during Wednesday’s earnings call.

While cash generated from transactions still comprised the majority of the company’s revenue in the second quarter, almost 30% of its topline came from portions of its business that generate interest. These include the money it takes from users who margin trade as well as interest on users’ cash balances.  

And almost 10% of its revenue in the second quarter came from Robinhood Gold, its subscription business in which users pay a monthly fee and receive benefits like yield on their cash reserves on the app. 

“If you look at things that we expect to deliver in the short term, medium term and long term, it’s pretty packed,” said Tenev. “So this is probably the least diversified you should ever see Robinhood.”