Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev Talks Prediction Markets

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:07)
Tyler also spoke with Robinhood CEO, Vlad Tenev, whose company has made Prediction Markets one of its fastest growing businesses. He says, custom demand is clear, and that whatever happens in the legal fight, these markets are not going away.

**Vlad Tenev** (0:21)
The president, I think it was very, very clear that the president, Chair Selig and Chair Atkins are in lockstep working for the benefit of the country and the American people. And it's just a huge improvement in what we've been used to, because I think it's that everyone is just aligned and on the same page, that America has to be the best place for investment. And we also have to lead the financial services industry. So we went into the Oval afterward, which was a lot of fun. And the president actually just asked us how the government could be working better, how we can be working more cohesively. He said, there's a room with a lot of smart people, so I'd love your feedback. And I thought that was very nice too, because it just shows that he's taking feedback, and it's a good testament of the public sector or private sector collaboration that I think has been missing in this country for so long. So there's a lot of talk about what it would take for clarity to get over the line.
Some chatter about the timing being not ideal because maybe a lot of representatives are vacationing.
But yeah, the hope was that we control what we can control, we can get some people who have maybe been sort of like reluctant to take a stance to get over the line, and hopefully execute the passage in September.

**Tyler Kendall** (2:06)
To that point, can you give us any update or insight into if negotiations are happening? Because as you mentioned, right now the Senate's on recess. So if talks are happening, they're probably not happening here in Washington between the lawmakers at least.

**Vlad Tenev** (2:20)
Yeah, I think that's a challenge. But even if folks are on recess, there's always the possibility of 3 a.m. phone calls and things like that.

**Tyler Kendall** (2:31)
And are you conducting any of those? Have you been talking to anybody in this process?

**Vlad Tenev** (2:36)
Yeah, we have been.
We've been engaging throughout. And of course, Patrick Witt, who's been doing a great job kind of spearheading this. And we've, everyone has just been telling Patrick, you know, he's doing yeoman's work, just wrangling everyone together. And he's been incredibly motivated to get everything across the line. We just said, hey, if you need more conversations, if there's anything we could do, we can, of course, we're working together as an industry for the benefit of ownership of this industry for the American people.

**Tyler Kendall** (3:13)
Can I ask you any specific members that you've been eyeing that maybe you think could get over the finish line, keeping in mind that Democrats have to get on board in order for this bill to pass?

**Vlad Tenev** (3:22)
Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I should call out specific members. Yeah, I think there are some folks that have been more recalcitrant, but I think we'll get them over the line.

**Tyler Kendall** (3:36)
At what point does regulatory uncertainty, whether it's on digital assets or prediction markets, become a hard ceiling on Robinhood's growth?

**Vlad Tenev** (3:46)
That's a good question. I don't think we're near that point, just because Robinhood is in so many businesses. We've got our more traditional businesses, which includes Trump accounts, which we're doing in partnership with Treasury and BNY for spreading ownership of equity markets to American children starting at age zero.
And I think that's incredibly important. Getting children to buy into this economy and this country and giving them a stake in the benefit, I think is not just great financially, but for their civic duty and for their financial literacy.
So, we've got a lot of businesses. We've got Robinhood Chain, which is working to spread ownership of high quality US equities worldwide. We've got initiatives for private companies. And so, I think the business is very diversified. But if I look at what makes individuals confident to participate in an industry and to have exposure to crypto as an asset class, I think Bitcoin has been relatively safe for some time. You know, we have, there's broad acceptance of Bitcoin in a way that there wasn't maybe three or four years ago even. But for some of these other crypto assets, I think regulatory clarity will very much help because customers also want to know that they're protected and that the rules aren't going to shift every four or eight years or so, and you know, suddenly make what they're holding covered in a cloud of uncertainty. So I think it's going to be good to give it that durability. But I think in terms of Robinhood as a business, we're a resilient, diversified business, and we've gone through many cycles starting with, the company began in the Obama era and went through Trump won, Biden, now the second phase of the Trump administration. So we have to always focus on serving customers, regardless of what the political environment is. And I think our mission is one that appeals to both sides.