Crypto Daybook Americas: Robinhood's Crypto Growth Presages Riot, Strategy Even as Tariffs Hit GDP | Breaking Crypto News & Blockchain Updates

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By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

The impact of President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs is starting to be felt. The U.S. economy contracted for the first time in three years last quarter and stock prices have seen their worst first 100-day performance of a presidential administration since 1974.

Results from trading platform Robinhood also showed markets cooled in the first three months of the year, even as itbeat analyst forecastsfor both revenue and earnings per share.

It wasn't alone, major tech companies including Microsoft and Meta beat estimates and, crucially, Robinhood's revenue from crypto doubled from the year-earlier quarter. That may foreshadow what to look for later today, when Block, Riot Platforms, Strategy and Reddit post results after the closing bell.

“The recent wave of weak macroeconomic data has pointed to both recessionary risks and rising inflation,” James Butterfill, the head of research at CoinShares, told CoinDesk. “Despite this, bitcoin has shown remarkable resilience, outperforming the Nasdaq by 11% since 'Liberation Day'” on April 2.

Indeed, while first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.3% and major stock indexes post posted losses in last month, bitcoin (BTC) held strong. The largest cryptocurrency rose nearly 15% against the dollar in April as investors started using it as a safe haven, along with gold and the Swiss franc.

To Butterfill, risk assets are now seemingly benefiting from expectations of an earlier-than-expected interest-rate cut.

“Equities and bitcoin appear to have recoupled, both rebounding today on renewed hopes of an imminent interest-rate cut," he said. "A disappointing payroll figure on Friday — which we see as likely — could be the final nail in the coffin for Powell, paving the way for more dovish policy from the Fed."

Yet in the cryptocurrency space, there’s more to keep an eye on. Ethereum’s long-awaited Pectra upgrade, which includes improvements to make the network more user-friendly and efficient, is goinglive on mainnet on May 7.

The upgrade is significant for Ethereum, which has been losing ground to more efficient blockchains including Solana, Base and BNB chain. DeFiLlamadatashows total value locked (TVL) on Ethereum’s smart contracts grew just 4% in April, compared with 21% on Solana, and 9.9% on BNB Chain. Base saw a minor contraction.

In the past year, Artemisdatashows Ethereum net outflows totaled $3.3 billion, while Base and Solana saw $3.3 billion and $3.2 billion in net inflows, respectively. Still, Ethereum recorded $880 million in net inflows in April, suggesting the trend is reversing ahead of Pectra’s activation.

The trend has, however, taken its toll. The ETH/BTC ratio has dropped to little over 0.19, the lowest level in five years. Stay alert!

CoinDesk's Consensus is taking place inToronto on May 14-16.Use code DAYBOOK and save 15% on passes.

By Shaurya Malwa

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Source:Farside Investors

Siamak Masnavicontributed reporting.

Francisco is a reporter for CoinDesk with a passion for cryptocurrencies and personal finance. Before joining CoinDesk he worked at major financial and crypto publications. He owns bitcoin, ether, solana, and PAXG above CoinDesk's $1,000 disclosure threshold.

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis.Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA.He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.

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