

Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire founder and CEO of cryptocurrency alternate FTX has acquired a considerable 7.6% stake within the common on-line brokerage, Robinhood.
The information was nicely acquired by the market, with Robinhood’s (HOOD) inventory value initially hovering over 30% in after hours buying and selling. At the time of writing the value has settled to a 24% total achieve.
According to a securities submitting made with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Bankman-Fried bought a complete of $648 million in Robinhood shares at a mean value of $11.52. The purchases disclosed by Bankman-Fried reportedly started in mid-March and continued via till Wednesday.
In the securities submitting, Bankman-Fried made it clear that he had, “no intention of taking any action toward changing or influencing the control of [Robinhood],” and that the transfer was just because he noticed Robinhood as an “attractive investment.”
Robinhood’s communications crew took to Twitter to emulate what Bankman-Fried mentioned in his securities submitting — tweeting to their 82,000 followers, “Of course we think it is an attractive investment too.”
Of course we predict it’s a lovely funding too. We have one of the best buyer base, are introducing nice new merchandise, and we’ve got the crew to ship.
— Robinhood Comms (@RobinhoodComms) May 12, 2022
The transaction was executed by an Antiguan agency referred to as Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd, of which Bankman-fried is the only director and majority proprietor.
The announcement appears to have offered Robinhood traders with some short-term reduction, after its inventory value reached a brand new all time low of $7.73 on March 12, simply sooner or later after the brokerage agency revealed that its crypto transaction income fell 39% year-over-year (YOY).
Robinhood has been taking important strides into the cryptocurrency market, as income from stock-related buying and selling has fallen drastically. Robinhood at the moment offers customers with crypto buying and selling capabilities, bringing it into speedy competitors with different US-based cryptocurrency exchanges akin to Coinbase and Gemini.
According to Robinhood’s Q1 2022 report, roughly 18% of its Q1 internet income got here from crypto-related transactions, nevertheless transaction-based income from cryptocurrencies decreased 39% YOY to $54 million, in comparison with $88 million within the Q1 2021.
Related: Robinhood axes virtually 1 in 10 employees members as inventory hits all-time low
In April final 12 months, Robinhood introduced plans to develop into cryptocurrency brokerage by buying UK-based crypto firm Ziglu.
Earlier this month, Robinhood additionally rolled out its extremely anticipated crypto pockets to 2 million waitlisted customers, outlined plans to combine the Lightning Network, and listed Shiba Inu (SHIB) after months of campaigning from its supporters.