Popular trading platform Robinhood reported a significant increase in cryptocurrency trading volume in the first quarter, up 224% to $36 billion.
According to Robinhood’s latest report, this growth played a significant role in increasing the company’s trading revenues by 59% year-on-year to $329 million, with cryptocurrency-related revenues alone seeing a significant increase of 232% to $126 million.
The surge in cryptocurrency trading volume on Robinhood’s platform is not surprising, as other cryptocurrency exchange platforms, such as Coinbase, also reported impressive results in the first quarter due to improving cryptocurrency market conditions.
Robinhood’s virtual assets worth $26 billion
In addition to the increase in trading volume, Robinhood announced that as of March 31 it held $26.2 billion worth of users’ crypto assets in custody, a significant increase of 78% compared to the end of 2023.
These figures show the growing interest and participation in cryptocurrencies among Robinhood’s user base. Positive results in cryptocurrency trading contributed significantly to Robinhood’s overall financial success in the first quarter.
The company exceeded expectations, reporting revenues of $618 million, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $552.7 million. In addition, Robinhood’s earnings for the quarter were $0.18 per share, exceeding analysts’ average expectations of $0.06.
Following the release of these impressive financial results, Robinhood shares saw a post-listing increase of about 7%, while Coinbase shares saw a slight decline.
Since the beginning of the year, Robinhood shares have risen by about 40%, while Coinbase has gained 22%.
Robinhood receives Wells notice from SEC
However, among the positive news, Robinhood recently revealed that it has received a Wells notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its crypto unit. The Wells notice informs the recipient that the regulator has completed its investigation against it and plans to initiate enforcement proceedings.
The company’s chief financial officer, Jason Warnick, said he was disappointed to receive the notice, but stressed that it would not affect customer accounts or the crypto arm’s operations.
„We have been very conservative in our approach to the list of points and services offered,” he said – Warnick added.
„We are a highly regulated company and have applied the same legal and compliance standards that we use in our brokerage to the way we run our cryptocurrencies. It is therefore disappointing to see more regulation through enforcement.”
As reported, the Digital Chamber ‘s cryptocurrency trade association sharply criticized the SEC for issuing the Wells notice to Robinhood Crypto, calling it an „alarming development.” The Digital Chamber called it another example of the regulator’s „unchecked regulatory overreach” similar to previous ones.
The SEC has previously issued a Wells notice to major industry players such as Uniswap and Consensys. Other leading legal experts in the cryptocurrency industry have expressed concern over several SEC notices on Wells.
For example, Jake Chervinsky, legal director of Variant Fund, on X expressed his concerns about the SEC’s enforcement intentions.
