Robinhood Says Crypto Trading Slump Could Weigh On Future Revenues

As crypto trading volumes slump across the board, Robinhood — the soon-to-be public brokerage firm — is warning that it might be impacted by the market doldrums.

Exchange volumes on legitimate cryptocurrency trading platforms fell precipitously from May to June, dropping to $1.2 trillion from $2.3 trillion, according to The Block’s data dashboard. Meanwhile, daily exchange volumes have dropped to $21.5 billion from peaks near $45 billion.

Robinhood attributed a potential revenue dip for the three months ending in June 2021 to the crypto trading slump in a revised version of its S-1 filing, published Monday as part of its long-running bid to go public.

“We expect our revenue for the three months ending September 30, 2021, to be lower, as compared to the three months ended June 30, 2021, as a result of decreased levels of trading activity relative to the record highs in trading activity, particularly in cryptocurrencies, during the three months ended June 30, 2021, and expected seasonality,” the filing noted.

The subdued trading environment followed a more robust period during the first two months of the year, according to Robinhood.

“Trading activity was particularly high during the first two months of the 2021 period, returning to levels more in line with prior periods during the last few weeks of the quarter ended June 30, 2021,” the firm said.

Robinhood, which dropped its S-1 at the beginning of this month, derives a sizable portion of its revenues from cryptocurrency trading. For the three months ending March 31, Robinhood said 17 percent of its transaction-based revenue was from crypto transactions.