Trading app Robinhood is weighing whether to put Bitcoin on its balance sheet, the company's Senior Vice President of Finance and Strategy Shiv Verma said.
Speaking Wednesday following its quarterly earnings call, Verma said that buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with spare cash has both "pros and cons" potentially aligning it with its crypto-buying customers but requiring capital that might be better served elsewhere.
"We've spent a lot of time thinking about [buying digital assets]," Verma said. "If you put it on your balance sheet, it has the positives of that you're aligned with the community, but it does take up capital."
He added: "Our shareholders can also go and buy Bitcoin directly on Robinhood and so are we making that decision for them? Is it the best use of our capital? We have this debate constantly -- we're still thinking about it."
Verma's remarks came as the Menlo Park, California-based company beat analysts' estimates with $1.27 billion in revenues and earnings per share of $0.61.
Robinhood CEO Predicts AI-Driven Companies, Likens Them to Bitcoin and Satoshi
Robinhood's crypto trading revenues jumped 339% year-over-year and CEO Vlad Tenev reiterated HOOD's ambitious plans to expand into a more comprehensive financial services platform. The firm now allows trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and more than a dozen other digital assets.
Nasdaq-listed HOOD closed down nearly 11% lower on Thursday afternoon in New York. Its shares have soared more than 240% year-to-date.
Bitcoin treasuries offer exposure to the asset for investors via their publicly traded shares. American software firm Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, pioneered the strategy in 2020 and now holds 641,205 digital coins worth about $64.9 billion based on the current price. Now more
Now more than 200 other U.S. publicly-listed companies have created BTC treasuries along with other firms that have accumulated holdings of other major tokens, including Ethereum and Solana.
They include Japanese hotel operator, Metaplanet, which has built the fourth largest BTC stockpile with nearly 31,000 BTC worth over $3.1 billion based on current prices, Bitcoin miner BitMine Immersion, and online marketing firm SharpLink Gaming, which have both created Ethereum treasuries.
But experts have warned of the dangers of companies buying crypto and how it could be inherently risky. Now, the share prices of many of the firms that have bought digital assets have dropped as the prices of leading digital assets have slumped.