Kaiko said open interest, funding rates and wallet activity showed repeated pre-announcement positioning before several Robinhood token listings. Open interest in perpetual futures markets and onchain trading patterns suggest some traders may have positioned ahead of Robinhood crypto listing announcements, according to a Monday report from analytics provider Kaiko. One of the clearest examples was wallet address '0xa1E,' which Kaiko said opened a long position on Lighter (LIT) on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid at 11:05 am UTC on Jan. 15, about an hour before Robinhood announced the token’s listing at 12:12 pm The wallet closed the position at 1:00 pm, shortly after the announcement. Kaiko said the same address later opened a short position on a HOOD-linked perpetual contract on April 28, hours before Robinhood reported first-quarter revenue that missed analyst expectations. The trader closed the short later that day after HOOD moved lower. Read more
Robinhood’s Q1 earnings per share and revenue figures missed industry expectations, sending the company’s shares down nearly 10%. Online trading platform Robinhood fell 9.4% in after-hours trading after its Q1 revenue missed analyst estimates, while crypto revenue and trading volume fell nearly 50% from a year ago. Robinhood’s crypto transaction revenue fell 47% year-on-year from $252 million to $134 million, while crypto trading volume fell 48% to $24 billion over the same period, according to the company’s Q1 earnings report on Tuesday. Robinhood’s transaction-based crypto revenue fell for the third consecutive quarter in Q1. Source: Robinhood Read more
Cathie Wood's ARK Invest increased its Robinhood stake after the platform was selected to operate government-backed “Trump Accounts” for youth savings and investment. Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has increased its exposure to Robinhood Markets, purchasing roughly $13 million worth of shares after the trading platform secured a role in a new government-backed savings initiative. ARK’s Tuesday trade disclosures show a fresh accumulation of Robinhood shares across multiple funds. ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) led the charge, purchasing 132,116 HOOD shares. Additional buying came from the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), which added 33,607 shares, and the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), which picked up 16,918 shares. Related: Bernstein sees potential bottom for crypto stocks ahead of Q1 earnings Read more
The purchases came as geopolitical tensions tied to the US and Israel's conflict with Iran weighed on global markets, pushing major indexes lower. Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest increased its exposure to crypto-related equities, adding shares of Coinbase and Robinhood Markets across several of its exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as broader markets pulled back. The company purchased a combined 22,452 shares of Coinbase across the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), according to trade notifications for Tuesday. Based on Coinbase’s closing price of $182.36 during the day, the purchase was valued at about $4.1 million. Ark also accumulated 158,587 shares of Robinhood through the same ETFs. With Robinhood closing at $76.07, the transaction was valued at about $12 million. Read more
Robinhood plans a mainnet launch later this year as the testnet hosts experimental assets, including stock-style tokens. Robinhood’s Ethereum layer-2 network processed 4 million transactions in its first week of public testnet activity, according to CEO Vlad Tenev. In a Thursday post on X, Tenev said developers have begun experimenting with applications on the L2 network, which was built for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and blockchain-based financial services. “The next chapter of finance runs onchain,” he wrote. The trading platform launched the Robinhood Chain testnet last week as an Ethereum layer 2 built using Arbitrum technology. The launch followed about six months of private testing and is intended to serve as a high-throughput environment for financial applications. Read more
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest bought nearly $50 million of Robinhood, Bullish and Circle shares as Bitcoin dipped and US spot BTC ETFs saw $276 million in outflows. ARK Invest, the investment firm led by Bitcoin bull Cathie Wood, snapped up a significant batch of crypto-linked stocks on Wednesday as BTC briefly dipped below $66,000. ARK purchased 433,806 shares of Robinhood (HOOD) for approximately $33.8 million, according to a trade notification reviewed by Cointelegraph. The asset manager also boosted its exposure to crypto exchange Bullish (BLSH) and USDC (USDC) issuer Circle (CRCL), acquiring 364,134 shares valued at $11.6 million and 75,559 shares worth $4.4 million, respectively. Read more
Robinhood is testing its own Arbitrum‑based Ethereum layer‑2, deepening its push into tokenized stocks and DeFi infrastructure alongside other major exchanges. Robinhood has launched a public testnet for Robinhood Chain, its new Ethereum layer‑2 network built using Arbitrum technology that aims to bring tokenized real‑world and digital assets onchain. According to a release shared with Cointelegraph, the testnet, which is now live for developers, offers network access points, documentation at docs.chain.robinhood.com, compatibility with standard Ethereum development tools and early integrations from infrastructure partners. Robinhood says the chain is designed for “financial‑grade” use cases, including 24/7 trading, seamless bridging, self‑custody, and decentralized products such as tokenized asset platforms, lending markets, and perpetual futures exchanges. Read more
The Series B extension values the New York–based crypto infrastructure company at about $1.5 billion and includes backing from institutional investors. Digital asset infrastructure provider Talos raised a $45 million extension to its Series B funding round, valuing the company at about $1.5 billion. The extension included new strategic investors such as Robinhood Markets, Sony Innovation Fund, IMC, QCP and Karatage, alongside returning investors a16z crypto, BNY and Fidelity Investments, according to the company. "We extended our Series B round to accommodate interest from strategic partners,” said Talos CEO Anton Katz. Talos said proceeds will be used to expand product development across its trading, portfolio management, execution, treasury and settlement tools and to support tokenized traditional assets on its platform. Read more