Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire founder and CEO of cryptocurrency alternate FTX has acquired a considerable 7.6% stake within the well-liked on-line brokerage, Robinhood.
The information was properly acquired by the market, with Robinhood’s (HOOD) inventory value initially hovering over 30% in after hours buying and selling. On the time of writing the worth has settled to a 24% total acquire.
In accordance with a securities submitting made with the Securities and Change Fee on Thursday, Bankman-Fried bought a complete of $648 million in Robinhood shares at a median value of $11.52. The purchases disclosed by Bankman-Fried reportedly started in mid-March and continued by means of till Wednesday.
Within the securities submitting, Bankman-Fried made it clear that he had, “no intention of taking any motion towards altering or influencing the management of [Robinhood],” and that the transfer was just because he noticed Robinhood as an “engaging funding.”
Robinhood’s communications staff took to Twitter to emulate what Bankman-Fried stated in his securities submitting — tweeting to their 82,000 followers, “In fact we predict it’s a lovely funding too.”
In fact we predict it’s a lovely funding too. We now have the very best buyer base, are introducing nice new merchandise, and we have now the staff to ship.
—Robinhood Comms (@RobinhoodComms) May 12, 2022
The transaction was executed by an Antiguan agency known as Emergent Constancy Applied sciences Ltd, of which Bankman-fried is the only director and majority proprietor.
The announcement appears to have offered Robinhood traders with some short-term aid, 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 vital strides into the cryptocurrency market, as income from stock-related buying and selling has fallen drastically. Robinhood at present supplies customers with crypto buying and selling capabilities, bringing it into instant competitors with different US-based cryptocurrency exchanges equivalent to Coinbase and Gemini.
In accordance with 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.
Associated: Robinhood axes nearly 1 in 10 workers members as inventory hits all-time low
In April final yr, Robinhood introduced plans to broaden 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 Community, and listed Shiba Inu (SHIB) after months of campaigning from its supporters.
