Robinhood Wants to Win the Wallet With Growing Crypto Push

Robinhood has long pinned its growth ambitions on being more than “just a brokerage app” to its users and the world alike.

It’s latest push? According to the company’s first quarter 2025 earnings call on Wednesday (April 30), it’s becoming a cryptocurrency giant.

“We’re incredibly excited about our global crypto ambitions,” Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev told the investors on the call.

Robinhood’s cryptocurrency transaction-based revenues reached $252 million in Q1 2025, doubling year over year and accounting for more than 43% of Robinhood’s total transaction revenue. This growth comes despite a modest sequential decline in crypto trading volumes, which slipped 35% from the previous quarter but still registered a robust 28% year over year increase to $46 billion​.

Robinhood’s crypto bet is far from incidental. In Q1 alone, the firm expanded its U.S. crypto offerings from 21 to 26 coins, and its European selection from 39 to 48. It also made headlines with the pending acquisition of Bitstamp, one of the world’s oldest cryptocurrency exchanges.

“Bitstamp positions us to serve a much broader customer base with institutional-grade infrastructure and licensing across key international markets,” Tenev said.

The deal is expected to close midyear, pending regulatory approval, and would expand Robinhood’s international crypto footprint by adding nearly 50 licenses and registrations globally. The acquisition also marks a pivot from Robinhood’s original retail-only crypto focus to a more diversified, vertically integrated crypto platform.

Platform Expansion

Robinhood reported first-quarter revenue growth of 50% year over year to $927 million, with net income of $336 million, a 114% increase from the same period last year.

Robinhood’s broader business also posted strong metrics as it tightened its grip on a new generation of investors drawn to digital assets. Funded customer accounts rose to 25.8 million, up nearly 2 million from the previous year, while total platform assets soared 70% to $221 billion. Of that, crypto holdings amounted to $25 billion — more than 11% of total platform assets.

The company also highlighted several product launches including Robinhood Cortex, an artificial intelligence-powered investment assistant, and Robinhood Strategies, a managed investment service. Though still early, Strategies is reportedly managing over $100 million in assets across 40,000 users. Cortex, aimed at retail investors overwhelmed by market complexity, is expected to roll out later this year.

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Another key growth area is Robinhood Gold, the firm’s $5/month premium subscription product. Gold subscribers grew 90% year over year to 3.2 million, now representing over 12% of funded accounts. These users are disproportionately valuable, holding nearly five times more assets under custody than non-Gold users and accounting for a growing share of net deposits.

“We’re seeing strong wallet share gains across our customer base,” said Robinhood’s CFO Jason Warnick. “Our strategy to serve the entirety of users’ financial lives — from trading to banking to crypto — is clearly resonating.”

PYMNTS Intelligence has detailed that 60% of millennials, 57% of Generation Z and 52% of Generation X primarily use mobile banking apps. In addition, 94% approved their overall access to financial services, and 79% said new technologies have enhanced their banking access, according to our data.

In total, Robinhood’s net deposits reached $18.0 billion for the quarter, representing a 37% annualized growth rate. Over the past twelve months, net deposits hit $57.3 billion, marking a 44% growth rate year over year.

Despite its success, Robinhood faces a constellation of risks. The volatile nature of crypto markets could quickly reverse trading volume trends. Regulatory uncertainty looms large, particularly as the company deepens its global crypto exposure. U.S. lawmakers are in the midst of establishing frameworks for both retail crypto trading and stablecoins — products Robinhood plans to integrate more deeply following Bitstamp’s acquisition.