A 30-Year old Crypto Billionaire Just took a Huge Stake in Robinhood

Web3 is becoming a Crypto Billionaire Game of Thrones

Hey Guys,

I have to say, I find this week-old news pretty crazy. Sometimes on Web3 Digest, I just loose it. This is one of those posts.

For some reason, I don’t drink the Kool-Aid quite like other people.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of crypto exchange FTX, has taken a 7.6% stake in Robinhood, according to a last Thursday’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That would be May 12th, 2022.

Samuel Bankman-Fried, also known by his initials SBF, is an American entrepreneur, billionaire and investor. It’s a bit crazy how much crypto has elevated a few to great heights and how much power they will wield in the development of Web3 because of it.

Twitter itself increasingly feels like a consortium of the Billionaire class.

Sam nearly owns as much of Robinhood now as Elon Musk owned of Twitter, before he decided to acquire it. Scary thoughts.

The irony is of course Robinhood’s fate largely depends (TechCrunch) on how well it on-boards GenZ into crypto.

According to the document, Emergent Fidelity Technologies took a stake worth $648 million in Robinhood. Bankman-Fried is the sole director and majority owner, it says. Not cool, Bitcoin bros!

I would not want to be the last human being in a spaceship with this guy.

Sam looks like a particularly twisted crypto version of Reid Hoffman. All kidding aside, thirty-year-old crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried is now playing Peter Thiel like games with the future of humanity.

Robinhood like Coinbase’s stock in Bitcoin’s recent dive, looked like in serious trouble. Robinhood’s net revenue dipped 43% to $299 million in Q1, with crypto trading revenue specifically falling 39% to $54 million (meaning crypto trading accounted for about 18% of Robinhood’s total revenue before the end of March). I’m not sure it was up to Cathie Wood’s standards. $ARKF is below $20 now, pretty shocking really.

Robinhood has been actively growing its crypto arm since the end of Q1 in a bid to attract users and boost trading volume. In the last month or so, the exchange has rolled out custodial crypto wallets to its users, listed four new coins including Solana and Shiba Inu.

So how well has Robinhood onboarded GenZ to its crypto products? Not so great but not terrible either, 22 million customers interact with its crypto products today in May, 2022.

The Coinbase/Binance Rival - FTX

Bankman-Fried currently has no intention to take other actions but at some point if circumstances change, he may review “options for enhancing stockholder value through, among other things, various strategic alternatives or operational or management initiatives,” according to the document. It also says he could acquire additional shares. Ominous guys!

FTX, where Bankman-Fried is CEO, is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world and offers derivatives products for more sophisticated traders as well as spot trading. FTX has become a rival to Coinbase and Binance, though it doesn’t offer its services in the U.S.

Sam is definately a part of the Stripe Gen, a future of Web3 that looks more like a dystopia filled with Crypto Overlords. Hard to believe Web3 won’t be even more corrupt than Silicon Valley has been at this point. When you notice how aggressive a16z has been to foster NFT platforms at scale, you see how nefariously centralized the ecosystem is becoming.

SBF is so young his profile on Twitter looks more like an NFT avatar. The rogue like Billionaires! Very sketchy.

Sam must like Robinhood’s style. Robinhood is now launching a non-custodial wallet, users will be able to access and manage their own digital assets, including cryptocurrencies and decentralized apps (dApps) including NFTs. Oh boy!

That Block, Coinbase and Robinhood have this much power to bring crypto to the mainstream is just upsetting and really not very decentralized. Jack doesn’t seem to care, I wonder what Sam will do in the future. Whatever is happening, it feels pretty shady.

• With a net worth of US$22.5 billion, the founder of futures exchange FTX is the youngest person on the 2021 Forbes 400 list of wealthiest people in the world. What was he on the 2022 list?

His parents are both Stanford law professors, but he disliked school. What a big surprise? The crypto democratization of finance continues in the hearts of our not so privileged children!

Coinbase, another popular crypto exchange, also offers two types of wallets — custodial and non-custodial — in two different apps, the latter being Coinbase Wallet. Coinbase Wallet is free to use but does pass on individual transaction fees to its users. Guy, it’s a lot of fees! Crypto is not democratizing finance any time soon.

Sam, don’t look at me that way? I know what you and your ilk represent. A new breed of overlord even more sinister than Silicon Valley fat cats and venture capitalists.

I’m not even joking. I’m about ready to throw American capitalism in the trash bin for a “great reset”.

What happens when our Overlords are part of a Nihilistic generation? What do you suppose we are in store?

Sam as a prodigy eventually discovered “effective altruism”, which changed the way he viewed the world. It’s a wholesome philosophy that aims to build a better world by taking action based on research. I guess for his generation, that means Bitcoin.

He’s already donated significant to causes such as animal welfare causes.

I’m just afraid of what Sam’s inner animal-totem really is?

Robinhood got its start allowing retail investors to invest in stocks but saw huge success when it rolled out its crypto trading platform in 2018. Now with Sam’s evil genius, who knows what they might conquer? Uncle Sam might just take over the world like CZ did. I guess the Crypto Princes are here folks.

Sam Bankman-Fried buys 7.6% stake, and there’s a burning light lit in the idols of Web3 where the citizens worship not the American $, but Bitcoin.

God save America.

A tribute to our saviors Elon, Cathie, Jack and Sam. The living Angels of Bitcoin.

Thanks for reading guys!