The founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has reportedly bought a significant stake in popular online broker Robinhood. For example, he has invested nearly $650 million for a 7.6% stake.
Attractive investment
This in turn was well received in the market, after which Robinhood’s share price rose by more than 30%. In total, Bankman-Fried would have deposited $648 million for this stake, at an average share price of $11.52.
Bankman-Fried has announced that he has no intention of taking any action to change control of Robinhood. He sees the move to Robinhood as an attractive investment.
Robinhood also sees this as an attractive investment. They announce this via a Tweet on Twitter’s social network.
Good news for Robinhood investors
The transaction was in turn executed by ‘Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd, an Antiguan company of which Bankman-Fried is the sole director and majority shareholder.
This news bodes well for Robinhood investors in the near term. They previously saw a new low of $7.73 on March 12 of this year.
Robinhood offers users a variety of crypto trading opportunities that put it in direct competition with other US-based cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase and Gemini. In addition, they also offer shares.
In the first quarter of 2022, the Robinhood platform saw net income from crypto-related transactions grow to about 18%. However, transaction-based revenue from cryptocurrencies declined approximately 39% to $54 million, compared to $88 million in the first quarter of 2021.
Earlier this month, Robinhood launched its highly anticipated crypto wallet for the two million users on the waiting list. She also outlined plans to integrate the Lightning Network and mentioned Shiba Inu (SHIB) after months of campaigning from his supporters. With this, the company is making great strides within the crypto world and appears to be expanding its activities here.
