Robinhood quickly made waves after launching in 2013 by offering free shares in companies for new customers and gamifying complicated options contracts. In 2020 and 2021, covid restrictions and US government checks to citizens created the perfect climate for the broker, with gambling on stock markets rising in simplicity and popularity. Streamers, TikTokers, and YouTubers went full “មិនមែនដំបូន្មានហិរញ្ញវត្ថុទេ” on their audiences.
Ever since February of last year, however, it’s become abundantly clear that Robinhood picked the wrong time to go public — and the broker is struggling.
The lifting of covid restrictions meant that fewer people were sitting on their phones at home and gambling this past year. It turns out that this is bad for apps like Robinhood, that want you to gamble on the stock market.
Additionally, Robinhood is now contending with rising interest rates and a US economy constantly flirting with a recession — and we haven’t even gotten to Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) purchase yet.
SBF stakes 7.6% of Robinhood
The more than 55 million shares of Robinhood stock that SBF and Gary Wang បានទិញ។ in May under a របស់ក្រុមហ៊ុន។ called Emergent Fidelity Technologies benefitted Robinhood immensely at the time: shares for the company were trading at or near all-time lows when the announcement was made and soared almost 30% by market open the next day.