ARK Invest: Robinhood is Transforming into a Financial Super App, with Growth Engine Not Trading, but Gold Subscription Service

BlockBeats News, May 6th, ARK Invest Director of Fintech Research, Nick Grous, stated that the true growth engine of Robinhood is not its trading business, but its $5 per month subscription service Robinhood Gold (a premium subscription service).

The article pointed out that Robinhood's first-quarter trading revenue was below expectations, but the trading business itself is cyclical. More importantly, Gold is gradually becoming the entry point to the platform. Gold users have access to services such as banking, credit cards, portfolio management, margin trading, a 3.35% cash yield on idle cash, and research tools. As of the first quarter of 2026, the penetration rate of Gold among funded accounts has risen to 15.8%, with nearly 40% of new users signing up directly. Data shows that Gold users have assets five times that of regular users, a deposit growth rate 1.2 times higher, and a 3.3 times higher probability of opening a retirement account.

Furthermore, Robinhood Banking has seen its deposit volume increase from about $100 million to $1.6 billion two quarters after its launch; the number of Gold Card holders has grown by about 4 times year-on-year to 765,000. ARK Invest believes that Robinhood is transitioning from a cyclical brokerage platform to a "financial super app" with a core focus on banking, payments, and investing. The growth "flywheel effect" is still in its early stages.