Robinhood's JB Mackenzie: Perpetual futures is a great opportunity for us

Summary

JB Mackenzie, Robinhood's VP of Futures and Prediction Markets, discussed the growth of prediction markets and the upcoming launch of perpetual futures. He emphasized Robinhood's multi-venue routing to secure best pricing and liquidity, and noted that prediction markets attract new customers without cannibalizing traditional gaming. He also described perpetual futures as a simpler, cheaper product that can pair with Robinhood's 24/7 crypto and futures offerings, ultimately benefiting the company's growth trajectory.

• Prediction markets are creating new customer interest and have not cannibalized traditional brick-and-mortar casinos like Hard Rock and MGM.
• Robinhood uses multiple venues (including a joint venture with Susquehanna) to route customer trades to the best contracts based on liquidity, integrity, and pricing.
• The company competes in prediction markets by integrating with exchanges such as Kalshi and Forecast and has expanded venue choices over time.
• Perpetual futures have grown to $90 trillion in global volume, due to being simpler, cheaper, more accessible, and often leveraged.
• JB Mackenzie sees perpetual futures as a great opportunity to pair with Robinhood's existing 24/7 crypto and futures products.
• Equities are not currently a use case for perpetual futures, as equities don't expire and markets are not yet trading 24/7 options, though that could evolve.