Robinhood shares up 8% after launching betting markets hub
Robinhood has launched a betting markets hub as the online brokerage — best known for stock trading — expands its presence in emergent asset classes, including cryptocurrencies and event contracts, according to a March 17 announcement.
Robinhood’s stock, HOOD, rose roughly 8% on the Nasdaq after the announcement, according to data from Google Finance.
The new betting feature will let users “trade contracts for what the upper bound of the target fed funds rate will be in May, as well as the upcoming men’s and women’s College Basketball Tournaments,” it said.
HOOD’s intraday performance on the Nasdaq on March 17. Source: Google Finance
The online brokerage is tapping Kalshi, the US’ first CFTC-regulated prediction platform, to operate the event contract platform, it said.
Kalshi is already registered to list dozens of event contracts, covering outcomes ranging from election results to Rotten Tomatoes movie ratings.
Prediction markets “play an important role at the intersection of news, economics, politics, sports, and culture,” JB Mackenzie, vice president and general manager of futures and international at Robinhood, said in a statement.
Experts say political betting markets often capture public sentiment more accurately than polls. Platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket accurately predicted US President Donald Trump’s November election win even as polls indicated a tossup.
Related: Robinhood tips Singapore launch, touts memecoin interest: Report
Rising popularity
Prediction markets have become increasingly popular in the US since September 2024, when Kalshi prevailed in a lawsuit challenging a CFTC decision to bar it from listing political event contracts.
By November, trading volumes across popular prediction markets neared $4 billion for contracts tied to the US elections.
Robinhood tested the waters of political event contracts in October when it started letting certain users bet on the outcome of the presidential election between former Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump.
In February, Robinhood suspended Super Bowl betting after receiving a request from the CFTC to nix its customers’ access to the event contracts.
Beyond stock trading
Robinhood has been expanding its footprint in emerging asset classes, including cryptocurrencies and derivatives.
On March 13, the company listed memecoins like Pengu (PENGU), Pnut (PNUT) and Popcat (POPCAT) in a bid to expand its presence in crypto. Back in January, it rolled out futures contracts tied to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC).
Robihood’s latest earnings report shows the firm posted a 700% year-over-year jump in crypto revenues in the fourth quarter of 2024 as Trump’s election win and rising market prices fueled boosted crypto trading.
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Donald Trump has reignited his row with London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan after calling him a “nasty person” who has done “a terrible job”.
During an hour-long news conference with Sir Keir Starmer in Scotland, the US president hit out at the Labour mayor, who has responded with his own snipey remarks.
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Asked if he would visit London during his state visit in September, Mr Trump said: “I will, I’m not a fan of your mayor, I think he’s done a terrible job.
“A nasty person, I think.”
The prime minister then interrupted and said: “He’s a friend of mine.”
But the president added: “I think he’s done a terrible job but I will certainly visit London, I hope so.”
Sir Sadiq’s spokesperson then released a statement saying: “Sadiq is delighted that President Trump wants to come to the greatest city in the world.
“He’d see how our diversity makes us stronger not weaker; richer, not poorer.
“Perhaps these are the reasons why a record number of Americans have applied for British citizenship under his presidency.”
Sir Sadiq Khan was knighted in June. Pic: PA
They noted that Sir Sadiq has won three mayoral elections, including when Mr Trump lost the US election in 2020.
This is not the first time Mr Trump and Sir Sadiq have locked horns.
Read more:
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The PM told Mr Trump that Sir Sadiq is a friend of his – seen here laying wreaths for the anniversary of the 7/7 bombings. Pic: PA
During his first presidential term, Mr Trump called the London mayor a “stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London”.
Sir Sadiq then described Mr Trump as a “poster boy for racists”.
And in November 2024, after Mr Trump won his second term, Sir Sadiq said many Londoners would be “fearful” about what it would “mean for democracy”.
However, as Sir Keir tried to show diplomacy with Mr Trump after becoming PM, Sir Sadiq said he “wanted to work closely with the American president” ahead of his inauguration in January.
The London mayor said as somebody “who believes in democracy, and voting and elections, we should recognise the fact that Donald Trump is the elected president of the United States”.
But he added: “Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this president is different from the last time he was president.”
The SEC delayed decisions on the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF and Grayscale’s Solana Trust, extending review periods as the US Congress moves with crypto regulation.
The US House of Representatives will be in recess for the month of August, but the Senate still has a week of business to address two crypto bills before breaking.
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