Robinhood's crypto trading volume surges 400% to $70 billion in Q4

Robinhood, the commission-free brokerage firm, reported fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday afternoon, which showed retail traders continued appetite for crypto amid the November elections and bitcoin's rise to $100,000.

Crypto trading volume grew 400% year-over-year to $70 billion, while equity trading volume rose 154% to $423 billion. Crypto trading volume had steadily dropped throughout the year, from  $36 billion in the first quarter, $21.5 billion in the second quarter and 14.4 billion in the third quarter.

Robinhood's transaction-based revenues increased 200% from last year to $672 million, with cryptocurrency trading bringing in $358 million (up 700%) and equities generating $61 million (up 144%). Since the start of the fourth quarter, Robinhood noted it has also added seven crypto assets in the U.S. and launched Ethereum staking in the EU.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said in December there had been internal discussions about holding bitcoin, but the company didn't have plans to maintain a BTC reserve. Last month, the company teased futures trading for bitcoin, oil and gold.

The company's assets under custody (AUC) rose 88% year-over-year to $193 billion, driven by ongoing net deposits and increased valuations of stocks and cryptocurrencies. AUC includes the total value of all equities, options, cryptocurrencies and cash held in user accounts, minus any receivables owed by users.

Robinhood reported fourth-quarter diluted earnings of $1.01 per share, up from last year's $0.03 per share. Quarterly revenue came in at $1.01 billion, slightly below the expected $944 million.

"We hit the gas on product development in 2024 with a new platform for active traders, Gold Card launch, an expanded UK and EU product suite, and much more," Vlad Tenev, CEO and co-founder of Robinhood stated in a press release. "We see a huge opportunity ahead of us as we work toward enabling anyone, anywhere, to buy, sell, or hold any financial asset and conduct any financial transaction through Robinhood."

Tenev wrote a Washington Post op-ed in January that said the SEC should write rules making it clear how early-stage startups can tokenize their equity.

“Finally, the U.S. is making up for lost time and taking crypto seriously,” Tenev said at the time. “So many promising strides forward. It’s time to even further expand our understanding of what’s possible.”