- Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev told Jim Cramer on Mad Money that crypto contracts already take a disproportionate share of the firm's prediction-markets business, and that within a few years sports will actually be in the minority. He framed sports as a wedge for bringing in liquidity and users.
- Robinhood's event-contract revenue jumped more than tenfold year over year to $156 million in Q2, making it the company's fastest-growing business line. Contracts traded 4.7 billion times in August, roughly 15 times the year-earlier volume, while crypto trading revenue fell over the same stretch.
- Sports contracts are the legally contested category: the Ninth Circuit ruled last month that Nevada can regulate Kalshi's sports contracts, splitting with the Third Circuit, and New Jersey has asked the Supreme Court to settle the question. Crypto contracts do not carry that fight, which moves Robinhood's fastest-growing business onto firmer legal ground.
- Robinhood's prediction-markets business now runs on three legs: Kalshi, its own CFTC-licensed Rothera joint venture with Susquehanna, and minority stakes taken this month in Crypto.com and its prediction-market spinoff OG.com, adding a third partner to clear and settle trades.
- Crypto backdrop: BTC hit an eight-month high near $86,000 as roughly $750 million in shorts were liquidated above $82,000, with about $2 billion in new leverage added since the breakout and analysts eyeing $90,000. BTC ETFs saw $999 million of inflows.
Quotes
“sports will actually be in the minority”