Robinhood’s crypto engine cools off
Robinhood’s Q1 results were not a disaster, but they were not good enough for a stock still carrying a lot of crypto-cycle optimism. Crypto revenue fell 47% YoY to $134 million, while native-app crypto trading volume dropped 48% to $24 billion, helping send HOOD down double digits this morning. The company is not standing still – total revenue still rose, platform assets grew, Gold subscriptions hit 4.3 million (+15%), and prediction market revenue jumped 320% – but investors seemed more focused on the miss and the slowdown in crypto activity. Read more →
Election betting gets ETF’d
Prediction markets may be coming to the ETF aisle next week. Roundhill filed an amended SEC registration setting May 5 as the effective date for six funds tied to U.S. election outcomes, including ETFs tracking whether Democrats or Republicans win the 2028 presidency and control of the House or Senate in the 2026 midterms. The idea is simple, if a little wild: instead of trading on Polymarket or Kalshi, investors could take a directional view on elections through a traditional ETF wrapper. It is also another example of the ETF-ization of everything – once markets discover a new kind of wager, someone eventually tries to package it for brokerage accounts. Read more →
Western Union’s stablecoin plan gets real
On Monday, Western Union said its Solana-based stablecoin, USDPT, is expected to launch next month. Their goal is pretty straight forward – to replace parts of the slower correspondent banking process with 24/7 onchain settlement, including nights, weekends, and holidays. The broader rollout has three pieces: (1) USDPT for internal/agent settlement, (2) a Digital Asset Network that lets wallet users cash out through Western Union’s retail footprint, and (3) a planned Stable Card that would let consumers hold dollar-denominated value and spend globally. Remittances FWIW were one of bitcoin’s original adoption layups, but it continues to look like stablecoins – including those pushed through Western Union rails – will actually make cross-border payments faster and more practical. The open question is whether customers will see the benefit in lower fees. Read more →
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