Robinhood CEO: We are at the 'frontier of innovation and financial services'
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on the 'optimism' around future cryptocurrency regulation, bitcoin's all-time highs, weathering potential market storms and trading crypto as a 'technology layer.'
Bitcoin’s $100,000 milestone is just the beginning of a "frontier of innovation," according to the CEO of one of the top market trading platforms.
"The question is, do we want the U.S. to be a leader in this new industry like we are in artificial intelligence? I think the answer is, obviously, yes. We want to continue to lead there," Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Thursday.
"And for a while we weren't sure whether the current administration [had] that view," he continued. "But the next one, I think, gets it."
Bitcoin prices topped $100,000 for the first time ever on Wednesday evening and continued rising the following day, as the cryptocurrency added to its record-setting run in the wake of President-elect Trump's election victory and more buzz that the incoming administration will have a crypto czar.
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Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev talks hopes for a bitcoin strategic reserve on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast." (Getty Images)
The surge in crypto has driven investors into related exchange traded funds. 2X Bitcoin Strategy ETF, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Hashdex Bitcoin and ProShares Bitcoin are among the year's top performers, tracked by VettaFi, all with triple digit returns well over 100%.
Tenev, who oversees one of the top investment platforms for stocks, ETFs and crypto, noted it’s still "early" days for Bitcoin as market experts believe Trump wants to deregulate crypto trading procedures.
"If you look at the registered investment advisor market, they're now talking about getting crypto exposure and that's a multi-trillion [dollar] market, one that Robinhood is entering as well. Corporates – you're starting to hear more about companies putting bitcoin and crypto assets in their treasury and on the balance sheet, you have talk of a bitcoin strategic reserve," the CEO explained.
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"If that were to happen, other countries would surely follow suit," he added. "And the argument is, if it is like gold, as Jerome Powell said, we have a gold strategic reserve, why not contemplate diversifying that into cryptocurrencies?"
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies represent "the next evolution" of financial infrastructure, according to Tenev who compared the trajectory to that of data integration, going from mainframe, on-premise to now cloud computing.
However, that doesn’t mean cryptocurrencies are immune to market cycles.
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"Back in 2013 was the first major one where you started to hear about Bitcoin in the news. It went up to $1,000 per coin very, very quickly and then went back down in the hundreds or even below $100. Then in 2017, it went to $20,000 and back down into the single digits," Tenev pointed out.
"I think people have been holding more. And I think the reason for that is, particularly when you look at early adopters, a lot of these people believe in the technology. They believe that it's the future. And there's sort of like a culture built around weathering these storms, and holding throughout ups and downs."
Gxstocks’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
