TL;DR
Full Story
12 months ago, adding buying/integrating a crypto platform/tool/service into your existing web2 product offering was a bad idea.
(At least, in the eyes of most traditional investors).
Why? Because:
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Prices were in the toilet
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AI was the hot new tech that everyone wanted to see integrated
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And the SEC was on a warpath with the crypto industry (☝️ so much so that speakers were cancelling US conference appearances in fears they’d be arrested at the border)
But now we’re seeing a big shift in that sentiment — highlighted by Robinhood’s acquisition of the crypto exchange Bitstamp (announced last week).
This acquisition will increase Robinhood’s global reach within crypto, the trading of which made up 20% of its total revenue in Q1 of this year.
Which is nice for Robinhood shareholders — but that’s not what’s catching our eye here.
Zoom out a little and you’ll start to see a larger signal…
Robinhood grew crypto revenues, and acquired Bitstamp — all while being sued by the SEC for holding crypto assets.
Add it all up and you see three pieces of a broader trend:
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Companies want to adopt crypto
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Users want to adopt crypto
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They’re willing to fight for it
And in an election year, these kind of trends carry greater weight.
To quote Yano: “The US is back baby.”
