First Mover Americas: Robinhood Shares Jump, Layer 2s Become Cheaper
Robinhood's shares rose over 11% in premarket trading after reporting increased volumes across all asset classes in February. Equity trading volume rose 36% to $80.9 billion, options contracts traded increased 12% to $119.1 million, and crypto volumes grew 10% to $6.5 billion. Total assets under custody increased 16% from January to $118.7 billion at the end of February. Ethereum's Dencun upgrade, which reduces costs associated with transactions on layer-2 platforms, went live and is performing as expected. The average cost of transactions on Optimism dropped to nearly 4 cents, down from around $1.40. Average fees on Coinbase’s layer 2 blockchain, Base, fell to 3 cents from roughly $1.50, and Arbitrum’s fee declined to 40 cents. Fireblocks is partnering with UK-based institutional crypto exchange Zodia Markets to improve corporate cross-border payments. The collaboration will enable corporations to transfer funds faster using stablecoins rather than traditional fiat currency methods. The integration will utilize Zodia Markets’ digital asset execution and Fireblocks’ platform for peer-to-peer stablecoin transactions.
