By PYMNTS | October 27, 2026
Robinhood’s cryptocurrency revenue fell 55% in the third quarter, but much of the discussion on its earnings call Tuesday (Oct. 27) focused on where customers’ money might go next. CEO Vlad Tenev outlined a future built around everyday banking, payments sent as easily as a text message and artificial intelligence agents that help customers understand investments and trade.
The ambition is to become customers’ financial home. In his opening remarks, Tenev described banking and credit as important drivers of Robinhood Gold, its paid membership program. Both products remain in limited release, leaving room to expand access and make signing up easier.
Robinhood Banking has attracted nearly $5 billion in deposits from more than 350,000 funded customers, according to the company’s earnings release. About 40% have signed up for direct deposit.
During the call’s Q&A, Tenev offered another measure of progress: Robinhood Banking became the largest destination, by dollars, for money customers withdrew from their Robinhood brokerage accounts during the quarter. Money that previously might have moved to a big bank is staying within Robinhood.
“And obviously we love this because that money is not leaving the Robinhood ecosystem, it just stays in people’s accounts,” he said.
Later, responding to an analyst, Chief Financial Officer Shiv Verma said banking still requires a Robinhood brokerage account. Independent sign-ups would create an opportunity to market banking more broadly. Tenev added that regular paychecks and spending could provide a more predictable balance to trading activity.
Robinhood is also investing in AI trading tools, although management didn’t disclose a separate AI spending figure. That expansion comes alongside tighter overall expense expectations. The company lowered the upper end of its full-year adjusted operating expense and share-based compensation forecast by $25 million, to a range of $2.675 billion to $2.75 billion.
Tenev demonstrated a peer-to-peer payment feature by sending $5 to an investor relations colleague via text. Recipients can accept funds using Apple Pay or Google Pay without opening a Robinhood Banking account, he said. The feature remains in limited release, with a broader rollout expected in the coming weeks.
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His pitch directly challenged an established bank payment service: “Who needs Zelle, right?”
Asked by Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys about attracting customers and generating revenue, Tenev emphasized getting existing customers to use the service first. Each payment could then introduce a recipient to Robinhood, creating another opportunity to win banking customers.
AI Moves Into the Trading App
Tenev said customers can now use agentic trading directly within Robinhood’s app, without relying on an outside AI tool. These agents can help explain investment strategies and support trading, with the company continuing toward more autonomous execution.
Customers have put more than $250 million into agentic accounts, Tenev said. The earnings release reported approximately 200,000 customers had opened Agentic Trading Accounts, generating more than $1.6 billion in trading volume to date.
During the Q&A, Tenev said customers are also using agents to understand options strategies and explore ways to act on an investment view. That gives the technology a role in explaining financial decisions as well as carrying them out.
For the quarter, Robinhood reported record revenue of $1.42 billion, up 12% from a year earlier. Cryptocurrency revenue fell to $120 million, while options revenue rose 31% to $399 million and event-contract revenue increased more than sixfold to $173 million. Net income declined 14% to $476 million, or 51 cents per diluted share. Gold subscriptions rose 34% to 5.2 million.