Robinhood Expands Services for Gold Members

Robinhood has introduced a range of new services for its Gold members, which may further blur the lines between fiat and cryptocurrency.

Gold Subscription

Gold, the trading app’s premium subscription, costs $5 per month or $50 annually. It offers 4% interest on uninvested cash and higher limits for instant deposits.

New Offerings

At a recent presentation in San Francisco, Robinhood launched the following new services:

• Robinhood Strategies: Expert-managed portfolios developed by a team with over 50 years of Wall Street experience, targeting institutional and high-net-worth investors.
• Robinhood Banking: Access to traditional checking and savings accounts, exclusive events (including the Oscars), private jet travel, and same-day cash delivery to customers’ homes.
• Robinhood Cortex: An AI-powered investment tool providing real-time market analysis and insights.

The focus across these brands is to provide perks once exclusive to the ultra-wealthy to the general public.

Analyst Insights

Analysts from research firm Bernstein believe investors underestimate the value of Robinhood’s platform, noting that non-trading activities represented 47% of the company’s revenue in 2024. They praised Robinhood for leveraging disruptive technology to democratize financial access, especially with crypto tokenization, which lowers trading access costs.

Bernstein projects that Robinhood shares (traded as HOOD on Nasdaq) will outperform, setting a target price of $105. As of the latest update, HOOD was trading at $45.23, up 1.14% for the day.

Gold Card and Crypto Growth

Robinhood confirmed that the waitlist for its Gold Card is nearing three million, with another 100,000 customers receiving their cards this week. The card has no annual fee or forex commission and offers up to 5% cashback on purchases.

The enhanced Gold program coincides with Robinhood’s plans to bolster its crypto offerings, following the SEC’s closure of its investigation into the company. A 700% increase in crypto trade revenue led to a record net income of $916 million in Q4, ten times greater than in the same period of 2023. CEO Vlad Tenev affirmed Robinhood’s unique position at the intersection of traditional finance and DeFi.

Bernstein predicts that Robinhood is well-positioned to benefit from the forthcoming $114 trillion wealth transfer over the coming decades, as wealth shifts to younger generations. This blend of banking services and crypto trading could broaden access to digital assets, promoting adoption among potential investors yet to enter the Bitcoin space. Additionally, it may give Robinhood a competitive edge over banks that have not yet introduced crypto products, despite increasing regulatory clarity in the U.S.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.