Tenev | Crypto

Robinhood cuts about 10% of staff as CEO Vlad Tenev says business “has never been stronger” despite weak Q1 trading. Stock and crypto trading platform Robinhood is cutting 10% of its workforce as it restructures its organization, a move the company said will improve efficiency. CEO Vlad Tenev told staff the company is reducing 10% of its full-time employees as part of “flattening” its org structure, according to a statement on X by Robinhood on Tuesday. In an internal memo, Tenev said the company cannot “default to operating as a heavily-layered organization” if it wants to scale its mission, adding that Robinhood must “continuously raise” its performance bar. Read more

Robinhood’s new IPO underwriter role comes as SpaceX prepares a record-breaking public offering, with retail brokers and crypto-native derivatives platforms racing to shape price discovery and access. Robinhood Securities said it had secured approval to act as an IPO underwriter, moving from a distribution role into the main underwriting group alongside Wall Street banks. Chief executive Vlad Tenev said in a Tuesday X post that Robinhood Securities is “now approved to serve as an underwriter,” without specifying which regulator granted the approval, a process that typically involves oversight from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Framing the move as the “natural next step” after launching IPO Access in 2021, Tenev said the question in equity capital markets had shifted from “why allocate to retail at all?” to “how big can the allocation be?” Read more