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Ryan Knudson

đŸ‘€ Speaker
See mentions of this person in podcasts
3343 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

Exactly, exactly.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

So elections, like the Federal Reserve meeting, you can basically put money down on the outcome of these future events that they pay off if your prediction is accurate.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

And the type of contract that has made quite a splash is sports.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

So these prediction markets are available for sports games and entertainment events.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

So not only can you bet on or hedge your portfolio against who's going to win the election, for example, but you can also bet on the winner of, you know, the Monday night football game.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

Right, right.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

That's essentially the question that critics are asking.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

These things function like futures contracts, but on their face, they really resemble just plain sports gambling.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

Exactly.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

So Robinhood is not necessarily new to this criticism of blurring the lines between proper investing, quote unquote, and outright gambling.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

But this really raised eyebrows because it seemed to blur those lines in a newer and bolder way than ever before.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

So I think it's worth noting that there is a conflating of investing in entertainment that seems to be happening there, that especially when we're talking about the events in the presentation is very intentional on Vlad's part.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

I mean, even the earnings calls are designed based on NBA postgame interviews.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

Yeah.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

Yeah.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

I mean, it's like it couldn't be more different from the way that Vlad talks about investing and finance, which is kind of exciting and futuristic and kind of almost makes you want to be a part of this movement and this club.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

Yeah.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

The flip side of that is what happens if, or I should say when, markets go the other way.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

Individual investors have more choices and ways to take on risk than ever before.

The Journal.
How Robinhood’s CEO Became a Cult Hero

And that has compounded their gains in the good times that we've seen recently.