Robinhood (HOOD) is sharpening its concentrate on superior crypto merchants, a pivot that displays evolving buyer conduct throughout a risky yr for digital property.
“What we’ve seen actually will depend on the client phase,” Johann Kerbrat, head of crypto at Robinhood, stated in an interview.
“We now have a variety of clients which are a bit youthful. For them, they see this as a ‘purchase the dip’ alternative as a result of they’ve a longer-term horizon, in order that they care much less about short-term affect,” he stated.
However the firm can be seeing a rising phase of extra subtle customers who’re buying and selling extra often, together with day buying and selling and managing price foundation methods, stated Kerbrat, who will probably be talking at Consensus Hong Kong in February 2026.
“We’ve seen much more exercise from our superior dealer phase,” he stated. “It’s a mix of getting extra superior merchants now, and in addition extra instruments for them to make use of.”
To help that shift, Robinhood has launched options like tax-lot choice and customized price foundation choices for crypto transfers, which assist customers handle their tax publicity extra effectively.
Crypto trades can now route via seven liquidity venues, and buying and selling charges drop as little as three foundation factors relying on consumer quantity.
For years, the buying and selling platform was considered as a beginner-friendly platform, a spot the place customers bought their begin in crypto earlier than transferring on to extra superior instruments elsewhere. Robinhood is now attempting to shift that narrative.
“For the longest time, I feel individuals thought-about Robinhood extra of a single product,” he stated. “Folks had been like, ‘Oh, you can begin on Robinhood, however then you definitely go to a special platform.’ Now, we’re seeing extra superior merchants coming from different platforms into Robinhood as a result of they’re enthusiastic about what we’re constructing.”
That evolution comes as Robinhood plans to broaden its crypto enterprise via worldwide enlargement, partnerships with on-chain protocols and infrastructure upgrades designed to help extra superior buying and selling options.
Nonetheless, the corporate says it’s much less targeted on uncooked buying and selling quantity — which may fluctuate with market situations — and extra on gaining market share.
“If the amount is low, I can’t actually do something about that,” Kerbrat stated. “But when somebody prefers to make use of Kraken or Coinbase over Robinhood, which means my product isn’t ok — so I’m going to concentrate on enhancing it.”
As for what 2026 holds?
“I feel subsequent yr goes to be about accessibility,” Kerbrat stated. “For too lengthy, crypto was made by engineers for engineers. We wish to develop that to every part we construct on-chain.”
