TL;DR

• Robinhood increased in crypto revenue and acquired Bitstamp (all while being sued by the SEC), signaling companies/users want to adopt crypto and they’re willing to fight for it.

Full Story

12 months ago, adding buying/integrating a crypto platform/tool/service into your existing web2 product offering was a bad idea.

(At least, in the eyes of most traditional investors).

Why? Because:

• Prices were in the toilet

• AI was the hot new tech that everyone wanted to see integrated

• And the SEC was on a warpath with the crypto industry (☝️ so much so that speakers were cancelling US conference appearances in fears they’d be arrested at the border)

But now we’re seeing a big shift in that sentiment — highlighted by Robinhood’s acquisition of the crypto exchange Bitstamp (announced last week).

This acquisition will increase Robinhood’s global reach within crypto, the trading of which made up 20% of its total revenue in Q1 of this year.

Which is nice for Robinhood shareholders — but that’s not what’s catching our eye here.

Zoom out a little and you’ll start to see a larger signal…

Robinhood grew crypto revenues, and acquired Bitstamp — all while being sued by the SEC for holding crypto assets.

Add it all up and you see three pieces of a broader trend:

1. Companies want to adopt crypto

2. Users want to adopt crypto

3. They’re willing to fight for it

And in an election year, these kind of trends carry greater weight.

To quote Yano: “The US is back baby.”