Robinhood sees non-sports prediction market growth

At the NEXTPredict Summit in New York City, held the day before the report, Robinhood's JB Mackenzie described how price volatility contracts tied to Bitcoin, crude oil and gold have become the fastest-growing offerings on the platform. He holds the roles of vice president and general manager for futures and prediction markets at the company, which trades under the ticker NASDAQ: HOOD.

Mackenzie said Bitcoin event contracts are contributing to that growth, with trading intervals shortening over time. "It started off with a week. It’s moved to a day, and now we’re down to 15 minutes," he said at the conference.

Rothera, the prediction market joint venture between Robinhood and Susquehanna International Group, handles a share of Robinhood's sports derivative volume, while financial event contracts are sourced through a partnership with a prediction market operator, according to the report.

Mackenzie said traders who come to Robinhood for event contracts often go on to explore other asset classes, including cryptocurrency, equities and options, and some also look at retirement-planning accounts. "What you see them do is almost immediately start to build out into equities, crypto, futures, options," he said.