Robinhood stock shot past $103 on Friday before sliding lower by close, closing out another wild day in what has been a monster year.
The financial platform is now up more than 161% in 2025, fueled by the crypto market’s rally and a flood of retail momentum. But that spike came just as Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan plans to charge fintech firms for access to customer bank data, a decision that could slam Robinhood and its peers with new costs.
That news hit hard. Robinhood relies on slim margins to offer free services. Just the idea of added costs rattled the market. PayPal and Affirm each dropped nearly 6% on the same day. And while Robinhood stayed green, the pullback from its intraday high showed just how fragile a rally could be in this era.
Robinhood keeps facing backlash over crypto
“Robinhood has long claimed to be the best bargain, but we believe those representations were deceptive,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said.
His office is focusing on the company’s use of payment for order flow, where market makers pay Robinhood to execute trades. James said that practice could result in worse prices for users.
Lucas Moskowitz, Robinhood Crypto’s general counsel, defended the platform’s practices in a statement to CNBC, calling the company’s trade disclosures “best-in-class.”
“We disclose pricing information to customers during the lifecycle of a trade that clearly outlines the spread or the fees associated with the transaction, and the revenue Robinhood receives,” Lucas said.
That wasn’t Robinhood’s only problem this week. The company announced it would begin taking 25% of staking rewards from U.S. users starting October 1.
In Europe, it plans to take 15%. That puts it close to Coinbase, which charges anywhere from 25.25% to 35%, but higher than Gemini’s flat 15% fee.
Robinhood avoided staking before due to U.S. regulatory pressure, but under President Donald Trump, the SEC has backed off its crackdown. Recent cases against Coinbase and Binance have been dropped, giving firms room to bring back services like staking.
Robinhood triggers OpenAI dispute with tokenized stock rollout
Robinhood is also facing scrutiny in Europe over its new tokenized stock program. The company launched blockchain-based assets giving users synthetic exposure to private firms like OpenAI and SpaceX through special purpose vehicles (SPVs). These tokens don’t offer voting rights or direct ownership. They track the value of SPVs that hold shares in the actual companies.
In an interview with CNBC International, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev admitted, “It is true that these are not technically equity.” But he defended the offering. “What’s important is that retail customers have an opportunity to get exposure to this asset,” Vlad said, arguing that institutional investors often use similar financial instruments.
Vlad also said that Robinhood is cooperating. “Since this is a new thing, regulators are going to want to look at it,” he said. “And we expect to be scrutinized as a large, innovative player in this space.” On CNBC’s Squawk Box, SEC Chair Paul Atkins called the model “an innovation,” a rare bit of support even as regulatory rules remain unclear in most regions.
While the legal drama builds, Robinhood is already working on what could be its next big move. The company said it’s developing an app tied to Trump’s newly signed megabill, which includes $1,000 investment accounts seeded by the government for every newborn in the country.
The initiative, known as ‘Trump Accounts’, could give Robinhood access to millions of new users. It’s early, but the company said it’s already prototyping the app.
Robinhood’s year has been fast and messy. The market loves the growth. But the real question is how long Robinhood can keep flying this high before regulators pull it back to earth.
