Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev says clearer, more permanent crypto rules would give investors confidence that regulations won't shift with changing administrations. Speaking with Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington, DC, Tenev says that prediction markets will survive regardless of whether the Supreme Court sides with states seeking to regulate them, though he notes that the industry may have to adapt to the legal outcome.
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What Vladimir Tenev said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Vladimir Tenev said the president, Chair Seelig, and Chair Atkins are aligned to make America the best place for investment, and that the president asked for feedback on government operations during an Oval Office meeting. He expects legislation providing regulatory clarity to pass in September despite the Senate recess, with industry lobbying efforts led by Patrick Witt. Tenev said regulatory uncertainty is not a hard ceiling on Robinhood's growth given diversified businesses like Trump accounts and Robinhood Chain, though clarity would benefit crypto assets beyond Bitcoin. On prediction markets, Tenev noted Robinhood did 6 billion contracts in July, up 20% year over year, and argued CFTC preemption applies despite state cease and desist orders, expecting a Supreme Court ruling that draws a line rather than eliminating the market. He defended Gen Z trading, saying AI agents democratize sophisticated capabilities, and described political donations as bipartisan, focusing on support for broad ownership of American assets.
Key takeaways
Robinhood expects passage of clarity legislation in September through industry lobbying despite the Senate recess.
Robinhood processed 6 billion prediction market contracts in July, up 20% year over year.
Tenev believes the Supreme Court will not fully eliminate prediction markets regardless of the CFTC preemption ruling.
Robinhood's political donations support candidates on both sides who back broad ownership of American assets.
Tenev said regulatory uncertainty is not currently limiting Robinhood's growth due to business diversification.
1:45Can you give us any update or insight into if negotiations are happening?
2:09Have you been talking to anybody in this process?
2:51Can I ask you any specific members that you've been eyeing that maybe you think could get over the finish line, keeping in mind that Democrats have to get on board in order for this bill to pass?
3:13At what point does regulatory uncertainty, whether it's on digital assets or prediction markets, become a hard ceiling on Robinhood's growth?
8:40How are you thinking about that, particularly for some of those younger users?
The president. I think it was very, very clear that the president, Chair Seelig and Chair Atkins are in lockstep, working for the benefit of the country and the American people. And it's just a huge improvement in what we've been used to because I think that everyone is just aligned on the same page, that America has to be the best place for investment. And we also have to lead the financial services industry. So we went into the Oval afterward, which was a lot of fun. And the president actually just asked us how the government could be working better, how we can be working more cohesively. He said, you know, there's a room with a lot of smart people, so I'd love your feedback. And I thought that was very nice, too, because it just shows that, you know, he's taking feedback. And it's a good testament of the public sector, private sector collaboration that I think has been missing in this country for so long. So there was a lot of talk about, you know, what it would take for clarity to get over the line. Some chatter about, you know, the timing being not ideal because maybe a lot of representatives are vacationing. But yeah, the hope was that, you know, we control what we can control. We can get some people who have maybe been sort of reluctant to take a stance to get over the line and hopefully execute the passage in September to that point.
Can you give us any update or insight into if negotiations are happening? Because as you mentioned right now, the Senate's on recess. So if talks are happening, they're probably not happening here in Washington between the lawmakers at least.
Yeah, I think that's a challenge. But, you know, even if folks are on recess, there's always the possibility of 3 a.m. phone calls and things like that.
Yeah, we have been, you know, we've been engaging throughout and of course, Patrick Witt, who's been doing a great job kind of spearheading this. Everyone has just been telling Patrick, you know, he's doing yeoman's work just wrangling everyone together. And he's been incredibly motivated to get everything across the line. And we just said, hey, if you need more conversations, if there's anything we could do, we can, of course. We're working together as an industry for the benefit of ownership of this industry, for the American people.
Can I ask you any specific members that you've been eyeing that maybe you think could get over the finish line, keeping in mind that Democrats have to get on board in order for this bill to pass?
Yeah. I mean, I don't know if I should call out specific members. Yeah, I think there are some folks that have been more recalcitrant, but I think we'll get them over the line.
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Tenev, V. (2026, August 20). Robinhood CEO Tenev Talks Crypto Rules and Prediction Markets [Interview transcript]. Bloomberg Television. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1231747/
MLA
Vladimir Tenev. "Robinhood CEO Tenev Talks Crypto Rules and Prediction Markets." Bloomberg Television, 20 Aug. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1231747/.
BibTeX
@misc{tenev2026_1231747,
author = {Vladimir Tenev},
title = {Robinhood CEO Tenev Talks Crypto Rules and Prediction Markets},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Bloomberg Television. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {aug},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1231747/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
