What's Sam Bankman-fried up to with Robinhood?

Photo: Lam Yik/Bloomberg via Getty Images FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's purchase of a 7.6% stake in Robinhood has sparked a wave of speculation as to what plans "SBF" has for the stock trading company. Axios spoke with him to get a better sense of what he's up to.

Did Bankman-fried buy Robinhood shares before FTX collapsed?

As well as the DoJ, others claiming the Robinhood shares include Bankman-Fried himself, units of FTX plus bankrupt cryptocurrency lender BlockFi, which says Bankman-Fried pledged them as collateral days before FTX collapsed. Robinhood said the buyback plan was a sign of its confidence in its future.

Is Robinhood a good investment?

In May, Bankman-Fried took a 7.6% stake in Robinhood worth $648 million in the belief that the shares “represent an attractive investment.” As FTX spiraled into bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried’s Robinhood stake became the biggest liquid line item on his balance sheet that he could potentially sell.

Who contested FTX's Robinhood stake?

In the maelstrom that followed FTX’s downfall, the Robinhood stake was contested by four separate entities: FTX; Bankman-Fried himself; the bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi, which argued that Emergent had pledged the shares to it as collateral on a loan; and an individual FTX creditor.