Robinhood, the commission-free brokerage, holds over 118,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth more than $3 billion, according to data from Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analytics company. This makes the brokerage owner the third-largest BTC address after cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and Bitfinext, data from another firm, BitInfoCharts, shows.
Robinhood Unmasked as Third Largest Bitcoin Holder
According to BitInfoCharts, a Binance cold wallet address with over 249,000 BTC, which is worth approximately $6.5 billion (at the current market price) is the largest single BTC wallet. This is followed by Bitfinex’s cold wallet that currently holds over 178,000 BTC, which is worth about $4.7 billion. Another Binance cold wallet with over 115,000 BTC worth $3 billion comes in fourth after Robinhood.
The attribution of Robinhood to the BTC address occurred 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 June, BlackRock’s submission for a crypto exchange-traded fund with the US Securities and Exchange Commission inspired a flurry of similar applications by other firms in the industry.
This unknown address has accumulated over $3 Billion worth of #Bitcoin in the last 3 months.
— DivXMaN (@crypto_div) August 21, 2023
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 #Bitcoin ETF. pic.twitter.com/TdFuUkELuH
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…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 22, 2023
Shrinking Crypto Trading Volume
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).
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 declined 38% to $3.4 billion compared to the $5.5 billion generated during the same month in 2022, Finance Magnates reported.
Furthermore, the firm saw its revenue from cryptocurrency transactions decrease 18% to $31 million during the second quarter of 2023. This is even as the number of monthly active users of the platform dropped a million users to 10.8 million.
Nonetheless, Robinhood during the recent quarter posted its fifth consecutive quarter of revenue growth. Specifically, the stock trading platform saw its revenue jump 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).
Meanwhile, while Robinhood recently lost its case against the Massachusetts Secretary of State, Bill Galvin, at the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the broker emerged victorious in a legal action initiated by a group of investors who dragged the platform to court over trading restrictions it had imposed during the meme stock frenzy in 2021.
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