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Robinhood has launched a betting markets hub arsenic the online brokerage — champion known for banal trading — expands its beingness successful emergent plus classes, including cryptocurrencies and lawsuit contracts, according to a March 17 announcement.
Robinhood’s stock, HOOD, roseate astir 8% connected the Nasdaq aft the announcement, according to information from Google Finance.
The caller betting diagnostic volition fto users “trade contracts for what the precocious bound of the people fed funds complaint volition beryllium successful May, arsenic good arsenic the upcoming men’s and women’s College Basketball Tournaments,” it said.
HOOD’s intraday show connected the Nasdaq connected March 17. Source: Google Finance
The online brokerage is tapping Kalshi, the US’ archetypal CFTC-regulated prediction platform, to run the lawsuit declaration platform, it said.
Kalshi is already registered to database dozens of lawsuit contracts, covering outcomes ranging from predetermination results to Rotten Tomatoes movie ratings.
Prediction markets “play an important relation astatine the intersection of news, economics, politics, sports, and culture,” JB Mackenzie, vice president and wide manager of futures and planetary astatine Robinhood, said successful a statement.
Experts accidental governmental betting markets often seizure nationalist sentiment more accurately than polls. Platforms specified arsenic Kalshi and Polymarket accurately predicted US President Donald Trump’s November predetermination triumph adjacent arsenic polls indicated a tossup.
Related: Robinhood tips Singapore launch, touts memecoin interest: Report
Rising popularity
Prediction markets person go progressively fashionable successful the US since September 2024, erstwhile Kalshi prevailed successful a suit challenging a CFTC determination to barroom it from listing governmental lawsuit contracts.
By November, trading volumes crossed fashionable prediction markets neared $4 cardinal for contracts tied to the US elections.
Robinhood tested the waters of governmental lawsuit contracts successful October erstwhile it started letting definite users stake connected the result of the statesmanlike predetermination betwixt erstwhile Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump.
In February, Robinhood suspended Super Bowl betting aft receiving a petition from the CFTC to nix its customers’ entree to the lawsuit contracts.
Beyond banal trading
Robinhood has been expanding its footprint successful emerging plus classes, including cryptocurrencies and derivatives.
On March 13, the company listed memecoins similar Pengu (PENGU), Pnut (PNUT) and Popcat (POPCAT) successful a bid to grow its beingness successful crypto. Back successful January, it rolled retired futures contracts tied to cryptocurrencies specified arsenic Bitcoin (BTC).
Robihood’s latest net study shows the steadfast posted a 700% year-over-year jump successful crypto revenues successful the 4th fourth of 2024 arsenic Trump’s predetermination win and rising marketplace prices fueled boosted crypto trading.
X Hall of Flame: Memecoins volition dice and DeFi volition emergence again — Sasha Ivanov
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