Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani have raised their price target on Robinhood stock from $130 to $160, citing long-term value in the company's blockchain infrastructure rather than crypto trading volume. According to Bernstein's latest analysis, the firm expects prediction markets, perpetual futures, and Robinhood Chain to generate 18% of total revenue by 2027, rising to 23% in 2028. Prediction markets alone could contribute $1.7 billion by 2028, demonstrating the significant revenue potential of Robinhood's diversification strategy. The upgrade comes as Robinhood Chain's Wrapped ETH (WETH) has gained about 2% over the past week, with daily trading volume sitting near $44 million, suggesting steady network activity rather than short-lived hype.
In July 2026, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev unveiled Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum layer 2 built on Arbitrum's Orbit stack, marking the company's most ambitious global expansion to date. According to reports from crypto.news, the blockchain architecture uses ether for gas, runs approximately 100-millisecond block times, and settles to Ethereum mainnet. The flagship product is Stock Tokens - on-chain instruments tracking equities including Nvidia, Apple, and Alphabet, tradeable around the clock and usable in DeFi. This strategic pivot comes as Robinhood's crypto transaction revenue fell 47% year over year to $134 million in Q1 2026, with native-app crypto trading volume dropping 48% to $24 billion. The company is now taking its biggest swing yet at democratizing private equity with Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI), a closed-end fund expected to list on the New York Stock Exchange with shares priced at $25 each.
In a significant development, Robinhood is now working with the government to operate Trump Accounts - tax-deferred investment accounts created for children born between 2025-2028 who can receive a $1,000 government contribution. As reported by The New York Times, CEO Vlad Tenev said the company helped develop the app used to manage the program, with families able to begin contributions after account activation. Tenev views this government partnership as a strategic move to reach a new generation of users and build relationships beyond short-term trading into long-term financial products. The company's expansion into prediction markets is also accelerating, with Bernstein projecting Robinhood's prediction market revenue could reach $586 million in 2026, up from about $150 million in 2025.
RVI provides retail investors with exposure to a concentrated portfolio of private companies including Airwallex, Boom, Databricks, Mercor, Oura, Ramp, and Revolut, with additional companies expected to be added over time. According to Robinhood, customers can request RVI IPO shares through the company with no accreditation requirements, no investment minimums, and no performance fees. The fund will pay a quarterly management fee of 2% of net assets to Robinhood Ventures, with the management fee reduced to 1% for the first six months following RVI's public debut. This move comes ahead of major public offerings from SpaceX and OpenAI and provides retail traders with access to large-cap companies that have seen soaring valuations.
In January 2021, Robinhood became central to the most chaotic retail trading episode in modern American history with GameStop's stock surge. As reported by crypto.news, the company restricted buying in affected names, triggering accusations that the platform had sided with institutions against users. The technical explanation - that clearing house collateral requirements spiked and the firm had to restrict activity to meet them - is broadly accepted, though it did little to change the narrative. In Q2 2021, 62% of Robinhood's crypto revenue came from Dogecoin, demonstrating the company's history with speculative retail enthusiasm. The episode fixed Robinhood in the public imagination as the company that democratized trading until democratization became expensive.
Beyond Robinhood, Tenev co-founded Harmonic in 2023 with Tudor Achim, former CEO of Helm.ai, pursuing mathematical superintelligence with a flagship model named Aristotle. According to crypto.news, the company raised a $100 million Series B in July 2025 at an $875 million valuation, led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, and Paradigm. Robinhood has predicted that AI agents will soon trade financial assets as effectively as experienced human traders, with the company rolling out Agentic Accounts that let eligible users connect AI models to Robinhood's data and tools through a Trading MCP while humans retain capital control. Notably, Agentic Accounts are rolling out in the United States, where Stock Tokens and wallet perpetuals remain unavailable to US persons.
CEO Vlad Tenev revealed that more than 90% of his personal net worth remains invested in Robinhood shares, demonstrating his long-term commitment to the company's success. According to The New York Times, this statement provides context for his strategic vision as Robinhood expands into new markets and products. As reported by crypto.news, Tenev sold 375,000 Robinhood shares on July 6 through a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted in September 2025, but still held more than 48.2 million Class B shares after the transaction. Robinhood Markets (HOOD) stock has gained approximately 55% since March 31, 2026, driven by the company's diversification pivot from transaction-heavy revenue to more predictable streams. However, shares have declined more than 33% so far this year, mainly driven by weakness in bitcoin and the company's quarterly results.
