Robinhood CEO: These 2 trends will alter financial services

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Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi sat down with Robinhood (HOOD) CEO Vlad Tenev at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Tech Conference to discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto could change investing and how the online brokerage's customers are trading.

"I think there are two big trends that could change how financial services are delivered: crypto and artificial intelligence," Tenev said, adding, "Robinhood intends to be a leader in both."

The company has been growing and adding new products. Tenev says "Robinhood is looking less like a traditional brokerage. Of course, we have a big brokerage business, but we aim to be leaders in retirement, in wealth management over time. We think that there's a huge opportunity with owning the financials of an entire generation."

September has traditionally been a volatile month for the markets and this September has been no exception. When asked for what sort of activity he is seeing on the platform, Tenev observes that customers who trade things like options and futures, are still staying active.

"For customers that are more buy and hold, they tend to see corrections in the market or volatility as buying opportunities because the thesis for these customers is that AI, and to some extent, cryptocurrency, is a transformative force, and that's going to play out over the long run," Tenev told Yahoo Finance, noting that recent market volatility has allowed some customers to buy big-name stocks "at a discounted price."

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates at its September meeting. Tenev brushed off concerns that could be a negative for the company arguing that "on balance, the business will continue to do well" given how it has diversified.

This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.

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