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(Bloomberg) -- Robinhood Markets Inc. reported revenue that more than doubled as the online trading firm was buoyed by crypto-market transactions around the US presidential election.
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Revenue grew to $1.01 billion in the fourth quarter, beating Wall Street analyst estimates of $940.8 million for the three-month period. Cryptocurrency revenue also exceeded expectations, increasing more than 700% to $358 million.
“We hit the gas on product development in 2024,” Chief Executive Officer Vlad Tenev said in a statement Wednesday. “We see a huge opportunity ahead of us as we work toward enabling anyone, anywhere, to buy, sell or hold any financial asset and conduct any financial transaction through Robinhood.”
Shares of the firm surged 11% at 11:15 a.m. Thursday in New York.
The cryptocurrency-trading fervor was a key factor in Robinhood’s earnings growth. Leading up to the November election, President Donald Trump pledged to be a “pro-Bitcoin president,” and thus far has remained true to that statement, signing an executive order last month to establish a working group on digital assets. During the fourth quarter, Bitcoin traded above $100,000 after rallying for a month after Election Day.
Robinhood has matured from its early meme-stock days — the Menlo Park, California-based firm now offers retirement products – but continues to push boundaries. Following the launch of its election-focused event contracts, Robinhood dipped a toe into sports-event contracts with the Super Bowl specifically in mind. A day later, the company pulled the offering after disclosing it had received a formal request for a suspension from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
“They asked us to suspend the rollout, which we complied with, even though, I mean, it was a little bit perplexing to us that several companies were allowed to continue offering those to consumers,” Tenev said in a Bloomberg Television interview Thursday. “So, we are going to have to continue to work through that and we believe in these products. They are coming, and Robinhood is going to be a big part of driving those and driving regulatory clarity.”
The company’s results mark five sequential quarters of positive net income, with Robinhood reporting earnings of $916 million, or $1.01 a share, for the period. Robinhood’s outlook for combined adjusted operating expenses and share-based compensation for this year is $2 billion to $2.1 billion.