Take, for example, Robinhood which on Tuesday (April 28) announced its first quarter 2026 earnings. Robinhood’s revenue climbed 15% year over year to $1.07 billion, yet that number still fell short of analyst expectations, sending the stock lower.

The most striking feature of the quarter was not the revenue miss itself but the reshuffling of where that revenue comes from. Historically, Robinhood’s growth engine was powered by transaction-based activity, and especially cryptocurrency trading. That engine is now sputtering, with crypto trading…