"We think that the short-term gain we might get is not worth the long-term trade off for our users," the company's chief operating officer says.
Robinhood users may face a long wait before SHIBA INU is listed, the company's chief operating officer has suggested.
Christine Brown suggested that the trading platform is adopting a different approach to Coinbase, which has said its goal "is to list *every* asset where it is legal to do so."
More than 525,000 people have signed a petition that urges Robinhood to list SHIB. But speaking during a live event held by Decrypt and Yahoo! Finance, Brown said:
"Our strategy is a little bit different than a lot of the other players out there who are just racing to list as many assets as possible right now. We think that the short-term gain we might get is not worth the long-term trade off for our users."
And stressing that the company has adopted a "safety first" approach, the executive added Robinhood aims to assess everything from a regulatory perspective, too.
But striking a positive note about SHIBA INU, Brown told the Crypto Goes Mainstream conference:
"One of my favorite things is seeing the community around these coins really engage with us and let us know what they want."
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What This Means
It's a bit unusual that Dogecoin somehow fits Robinhood's criteria, but SHIBA INU doesn't.
And while SHIB is in danger of retracing sharply after October's bull run — following in the pawprints of DOGE, which plunged 66% after hitting an all-time high of $0.73 in May — this approach also means that the trading app may be shooting itself in the foot.
The mania surrounding Dogecoin had vastly enriched Robinhood's financials. In the second quarter of 2021, the joke coin accounted for 62% of the company's crypto-related revenues.
Robinhood went on to warn that its business could be hurt "if the markets for Dogecoin deteriorate or if the price of Dogecoin declines."
This warning ended up being particularly prescient. Painful results for the third quarter of 2021 exposed a 78% plunge in crypto revenues, and this was directly linked to a reversal in DOGE's fortunes.
But Robinhood's reticence to list SHIBA INU, like Coinbase, means that it's potentially missed out on millions of dollars in revenue — all while prompting its customers to take their business elsewhere.
In other developments, Brown revealed that 1.6 million people are now on the waiting list for Robinhood's crypto wallet. It's due to be launched early next year.
