An executive says the trading app has added bitcoin to its corporate balance sheet. The amount is tiny relative to the company, but it is an unusual step for a major U.S. retail broker.
Robinhood Markets has started holding bitcoin as a corporate asset, according to the executive who runs its crypto business, though the amount remains small relative to the company’s market value.
Johann Kerbrat, senior vice president and general manager of crypto and international at Robinhood, said in a livestreamed interview at a conference in Asia that the company "has added $25 million worth of bitcoin to its balance sheet." He added: "We care deeply about bitcoin and the ecosystem around it."
Kerbrat was also clear about scale. "The $25 million worth of bitcoin is not going to change a lot of the current trajectory of the company," he said.
The numbers back him up. With a market value of about $100.7 billion at Tuesday's close, Robinhood's bitcoin position equals roughly 0.025% of the company's worth. At prices near $85,000, $25 million buys a little under 300 bitcoin. Robinhood did not disclose when it bought or at what price.
Custody versus treasury
The announcement also untangles a point of confusion. Robinhood holds roughly $25 billion of crypto on behalf of customers, an amount that is a thousand times larger and that belongs to its users, not to the company. Earlier claims of a corporate bitcoin purchase had been dismissed by some observers as a misreading of those customer holdings. Kerbrat's remarks put a corporate holding on the record, and the company's third-quarter filing should show it on the balance sheet.
The move fits a broader push. Robinhood has been expanding its crypto offering, including perpetual futures, and a corporate bitcoin position signals alignment with the asset its customers trade.
Robinhood shares closed down 1.8% at $112.00 on Tuesday, before the remarks.
What to watch
The key question is whether $25 million is a one-time signal or the start of a formal treasury allocation policy. A stated policy, or a larger purchase disclosed in the quarterly filing, would put Robinhood in a different category from a company making a token gesture.