Cryptocurrency trading surges, Robinhood (HOOD.US) Q4 revenue doubles.

"Social media brokerage" Robinhood (HOOD.US) reported that its revenue more than doubled due to a surge in cryptocurrency trading during the US presidential election. The data showed that the company's revenue in the fourth quarter of last year increased by 115% year-on-year to $1.01 billion, exceeding market expectations of $941 million. Cryptocurrency revenue increased by over 700% to $358 million, also surpassing market expectations. Robinhood also achieved profitability for the fifth consecutive quarter, with a net profit in Q4 increasing by over 10 times year-on-year to $916 million, with earnings per share of $1.01. Robinhood expects adjusted operating expenses and stock-based compensation to be between $20 billion and $21 billion this year. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said on Wednesday: "We will increase our product development efforts in 2024. We see a huge opportunity ahead of us because we are committed to allowing anyone, anywhere to buy, sell, or hold any financial asset through Robinhood and conduct any financial transaction." The cryptocurrency trading frenzy was a key factor in Robinhood's profit growth for the quarter. Prior to the US presidential election in November last year, Donald Trump promised to be a "Bitcoin-supporting president" and has kept that promise, including signing an executive order last month to establish a digital assets working group. In the fourth quarter of last year, Bitcoin rose for a month after the election day, with prices surpassing $100,000. After launching trading based on the results of the US presidential election, Robinhood ventured into sports event contracts, especially the Super Bowl event contracts. However, the company was halted by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission one day after launching the Super Bowl betting service. Robinhood also plans to enter the global market by 2025, and plans to establish its Asian regional headquarters in Singapore. On Tuesday, the company launched US stock options trading services to UK customers. As of the time of writing, Robinhood's stock price surged by 16.17% after hours.