Robinhood clears 9B contracts as Tenev says crypto will outgrow sports

Robinhood has cleared roughly 9 billion event contracts across its platform over the past year, per company figures, making prediction markets its fastest-growing revenue line. CEO Vlad Tenev told CNBC's Jim Cramer on Friday that crypto-linked contracts are already pulling a disproportionate share of that flow and that sports will fall into the minority within a few years.

Speaking on Mad Money, Tenev pushed back on the framing that event contracts, yes-or-no trades on the outcome of a future event, are simply a rebrand of sports betting. "We're already seeing other categories like crypto taking a disproportionate share. And I think within a few years, sports will actually be in the minority," Tenev said.

The category has so far avoided the legal fights that have pulled sports contracts into court, which Tenev argues has given crypto-linked contracts more room to grow. New York sued Kalshi in July, seeking more than $36 billion in damages and a nationwide ban on its event contracts. Baltimore has separately sued Kalshi and Polymarket over what the city calls unlicensed sportsbooks. New York City's council has opened its own probe into how Kalshi, Polymarket, Coinbase, and Gemini Titan market prediction contracts to residents.

Robinhood is building its own rails

The company, in partnership with market maker Susquehanna International Group, completed the acquisition of 90% of MIAX Derivatives Exchange, formerly LedgerX, on Jan. 21, 2026. The exchange has been renamed Rothera; its website says new products are planned for Q2 2026. MIAX retained a 10% equity stake. Robinhood is the controlling partner; Susquehanna is the day-one liquidity provider.

The acquired venue is a CFTC-licensed Designated Contract Market, Derivatives Clearing Organization and Swap Execution Facility. MIAX originally picked up the exchange out of the bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX. Robinhood VP JB Mackenzie said prediction markets are the company's fastest-growing product line by revenue and pointed to contracts on the price of bitcoin and a Tesla proxy vote as examples of broader interest.

Robinhood already lists prediction markets from Kalshi and ForecastEx in its role as a futures commission merchant. Kalshi and Polymarket both function as a DCM and DCO, as does the prediction-market arm of Crypto.com. The competitive field includes CME, Kalshi, Coinbase, and decentralized platforms. Mackenzie noted that CME has built a prediction-markets relationship with FanDuel, and Intercontinental Exchange has invested in Polymarket.

What the data desk says

Robinhood reports Q4 earnings on Feb. 10. The 9 billion-contract figure and the "fastest-growing" label come from company statements, not filings. Tenev frames the prediction-market push as part of a broader "ownership" strategy he has also used to justify Robinhood's retirement-account matching and its expansion into tokenized stocks.

Crypto is not currently a category split out by Robinhood in published volume figures; the "disproportionate share" language is Tenev's, not a disclosed number. Specific Robinhood event-contract volume split between crypto and sports categories was not corroborated in the public pages reviewed for this piece.