Robinhood Sits on a $3B Bitcoin Goldmine despite Crypto Trading Decline

<p>Robinhood,
the commission-free brokerage, holds over 118,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth more than $3
billion, according to <a href="https://platform.arkhamintelligence.com/explorer/address/bc1ql49ydapnjafl5t2cp9zqpjwe6pdgmxy98859v2" target="_blank" rel="follow">data</a> from Arkham Intelligence, a
blockchain analytics company. This makes the brokerage owner of the
third-largest BTC address after cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and
Bitfinext, <a href="https://bitinfocharts.com/top-100-richest-bitcoin-addresses.html" target="_blank" rel="follow">data</a> from another firm,
BitInfoCharts, shows.</p><p>Robinhood
Unmasked as Third Largest Bitcoin Holder</p><p>According
to BitInfoCharts, a Binance cold wallet address with over 249,000 BTC worth
approximately $6.5 billion (at the current market price) is the largest single
BTC wallet. This is followed by Bitfinex’s cold wallet which currently holds over 178,000
BTC worth about $4.7 billion. Another Binance
cold wallet with over 115,000 BTC worth $3 billion comes in fourth after
Robinhood.</p><p>The
attribution of Robinhood to the BTC address comes after months of online speculation about the
owner of the BTC holding.
Previously, spectators attributed the address to Gemini, a crypto exchange, and
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. In May, <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/blackrock-seeks-approval-for-a-spot-bitcoin-etf-in-the-us/" target="_blank" rel="follow">BlackRock’s
submission</a> for a crypto exchange-traded fund with the US Securities and
Exchange Commission inspired <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/ark-invest-joins-blackrock-and-fidelity-in-race-for-bitcoin-etf/" target="_blank" rel="follow">a
flurry of similar applications</a> by other firms in the industry.</p><blockquote><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This unknown address has accumulated over $3 Billion worth of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a> in the last 3 months.The prime suspect? The first major transaction of 3400 BTC occurred on May 16th 2023. Almost exactly 1 month later on June 15th 2023, BlackRock filed for it's spot <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a> ETF. <a href="https://t.co/TdFuUkELuH">pic.twitter.com/TdFuUkELuH</a></p>— DivXMaN (@crypto_div) <a href="https://twitter.com/crypto_div/status/1693738671046885688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2023</a></blockquote><blockquote><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Gemini has transferred bitcoins to the new address bc1q….59v2 in the past 3 months. It currently holds 118,000 bitcoins, or about 3.08 billion U.S. dollars. It is currently the third largest bitcoin holder. The first and second largest Bitcoin addresses are Binance Cold Wallet…</p>— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) <a href="https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1693905744712908968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 22, 2023</a></blockquote><p>Shrinking
Crypto Trading Volume</p><p>Meanwhile, data on BitInfoCharts’ website shows that BTC was first sent
to the address, now
attributed to Robinhood, on May 8, 2020. The address reportedly
received the last BTC transfer yesterday (Sunday). </p><p>However, the American
online trading provider’s massive build-up of its crypto holding comes at a
time when the broker is seeing a decline in digital asset
trading on its platform. In July, the total volume of
cryptocurrency traded on Robinhood <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/despite-38-crypto-slump-robinhood-boasts-692b-in-julys-trading-volumes/" target="_blank" rel="follow">declined by 38% to $3.4 billion</a> compared to the $5.5 billion
generated during the same month in 2022, <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/" target="_blank" rel="follow">Finance
Magnates</a> reported.</p><p>Furthermore,
the firm saw its revenue from cryptocurrency transactions <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/robinhoods-revenue-up-10-in-q2-but-active-users-drop-by-1m/" target="_blank" rel="follow">go down by 18% to $31
million</a> during the
second quarter of 2023. This is even as the number of monthly active users of the platform fell by a million users to 10.8 million. </p><p>Nonetheless,
Robinhood during the recent quarter posted <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/robinhoods-revenue-up-10-in-q2-but-active-users-drop-by-1m/" target="_blank" rel="follow">its fifth consecutive
quarter of revenue growth</a>. Specifically, the stock trading platform saw its
revenue jump by 10% to
$486 million during the last quarter. Moreover, the firm
generated its first GAAP profitability during the period. This means
that the earnings were calculated in line with the generally accepted
accounting principles (GAAP).</p><p>Meanwhile,
while Robinhood <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/gamifying-trading-robinhood-loses-against-massachusetts-regulator/" target="_blank" rel="follow">recently lost its case</a> against the Massachusetts
Secretary of State, Bill Galvin, at the Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts, the broker <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/court-defends-robinhoods-actions-during-meme-stock-mania/" target="_blank" rel="follow">emerged victorious in a legal
action</a> initiated
by a group of investors who dragged the platform to court over trading restrictions it imposed during <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/brokers/interactive-brokers-robinhood-move-to-curb-gamestop-frenzy/%5C" target="_blank" rel="follow">the meme stock frenzy in 2021</a>.</p><p>ASIC suspends AFS license; FCA warns against 5 fraudulent firms; <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/news-nuggets-28-august-asic-suspends-afs-license-fca-warns-against-5-fraudulent-firms/" target="_blank" rel="follow">read today's news nuggets</a>.</p>

This article was written by Solomon Oladipupo at www.financemagnates.com.