Robinhood’s Chief on Trump Accounts and Why Trading Isn’t Necessarily Gambling

Robinhood, a digital brokerage built during the era of disrupter brands like Uber and Airbnb, found major success when Americans started trading stocks and cryptocurrency for entertainment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

As the company grew, it faced criticisms that its push notifications, bright colors and exploding confetti animations were designed to lure people into rapid trading, much like gambling sites.

The company has since removed some of those features. But the critiques that its platform could exploit young and inexperienced investors have become only more pertinent with the rise of prediction markets, which Robinhood has incorporated into its app. And many people still associate Robinhood with the freewheeling meme-stock phenomenon, in which it played a major role.

Now, it’s trying to be known for much more. It’s one of the companies selected to run new Trump accounts for children, putting Robinhood in a position to build closer ties with the next generation of investors. And with Washington.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/18/business/robinhoods-trump-accounts-trading-gambling.html