HomeTechnologyRobinhood shares jump 12% and are halted on report FTX may be...

Robinhood shares jump 12% and are halted on report FTX may be exploring a deal

A woman holds a smartphone with the Robinhood logo in the background.

Rafael Henrique | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Robinhood shares jumped on Monday after Bloomberg News reported crypto exchange FTX was considering acquiring the trading app.

The stock soared 12% to its session high and was briefly halted after a report that FTX was discussing a takeover plan internally, but no offer has been made to Robinhood, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Last month, Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, took a 7.6% stake in Robinhood worth $648 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing said Bankman-Fried acquired the shares in the belief that they “represent an attractive investment.”

FTX is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world and offers derivatives products for more sophisticated traders as well as spot trading. FTX has become a rival to Coinbase and Binance, though it doesn’t offer its services in the U.S.

Robinhood attracted a huge number of retail investors during the pandemic trading boom, while the young broker also experienced success when it rolled out its crypto trading platform in 2018. Crypto trading has since become important for the company’s bottom line when its stock trading activity slowed down.

Last fall, Robinhood revealed its testing a crypto wallet and said the waitlist for it had topped 1 million customers.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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