Robinhood Aims for ‘Crypto-First’ Approach to Global Expansion

Senior executive at Robinhood dismisses meme stocks as a fad and says offering crypto trading is the ‘easiest way to go global’

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • Robinhood’s chief brokerage officer said crypto would faciliate the “easiest” means to go global
  • The executive also sided against “meme stocks,” labeling such securities as “probably a fad”

Stock trading platform Robinhood is looking to expand internationally with a “crypto-first” approach, according to Steve Quirk, the company’s chief brokerage officer.

In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Quirk said Robinhood was looking to broaden its brand offshore and that crypto would gain the most amount of traction to provide for the company’s expansion.

“From a regulatory standpoint and all the other facets that come into it, it’s probably the easiest way to go global,” said Quirk.

The executive also offered his stance on the 2021 “meme stock phenomenon,” labeling it as a probable “fad.”

“The only thing I would say is I’ll just look at customer behaviors and tell you that those aren’t even on the top handful of names that are being traded anymore.”

Its decision to move away from meme stocks comes as no surprise.

Back in 2021, Robinhood’s users accused the brokerage of suspending the trading of GameStop stock and other “meme stock” securities, spurred on by buying fervor from retail traders attempting to squeeze the short positions of big Wall Street firms.

Crypto trading is offered through its subsidiary Robinhood Crypto, LLC. The platform currently lists seven assets, including bitcoin, ether, ether classic, litecoin, dogecoin, bitcoin cash and bitcoin SV. Last month, the platform released a beta version of its digital asset wallet, known as WenWallets, to 1,000 select customers. The company is hoping to extend that number to 10,000 by March.

A planned international expansion led by crypto could help shore up last year’s poor earnings and lift the company’s share value. Currently, US regulations limit access by users of the platform outside US borders.

Robinhood shares (HOOD) fell 15% after-hours in late January, trading to a low of $9.77 following an unfavorable quarterly earnings report in which the company disclosed a net loss of $423 million. Its share price has recovered from its Jan. 28 lows and is up 34% to around $13.52.

In July, the brokerage priced its initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock exchange at $38 per share with a company valuation of $32 billion.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

The convergence of DePIN and energy generation aims to address modern grid challenges by incentivizing distributed generation.

article-image

Togo activist Farida Nabourema is fighting back with Bitcoin

article-image

Roshan Robert told Blockworks that OKX brought him on back in September to plan out its US expansion

article-image

Could we stop using BTC to amplify our short-term risks — and start using it to hedge our long-term ones?

article-image

Sol Strategies will be the tokenized stock platform’s first listing

article-image

Craig Fuller, CEO and founder of FreightWaves, breaks down how tariffs are and will impact shipping and inventories

article-image

This limited-edition run of sparkling water is more for existing traders than crypto newcomers, but mainstream distribution is part of the plan.