Robinhood and Jump Trading No Longer Have Crypto Partnership: Source

Robinhood Markets Inc., the retail broker whose entry into crypto several years ago was powered by Chicago-based juggernaut Jump Trading, is no longer doing business with the firm, a person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.

Robinhood’s no-fee crypto business depends on market-making firms to keep its billions of dollars in volume trading smoothly. But Jump has been reportedly backing away from the U.S. market amid heightened regulatory scrutiny.

On-chain data suggests Jump and Robinhood split ways in early July.

Robinhood declined to comment. Jump could not be immediately reached for comment.

Intel from the source adds to little-noticed public evidence their relationship had changed. Robinhood’s financial reports haven’t mentioned Tai Mo Shan Ltd. – the Jump affiliate that handled Robinhood’s order flow – since the fourth quarter of 2022.

Instead, the publicly traded broker is working with competing market-making firms including B2C2, which now handles the lion’s share of Robinhood’s crypto flow, according to public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Why Robinhood and Jump are no longer working together isn’t clear. Jump has for years been one of the largest market makers in traditional finance, a dominant presence on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and other markets owned by CME Group. The U.S. government’s 2023 crypto crackdown has made it harder for TradFi players to remain as visible in crypto.

Jump was the original firm supporting Robinhood’s crypto ambitions and anchored market making for its lucrative service heading into the 2021 bull market peak.

UPDATE (Aug. 29, 2023, 17:52 UTC): Adds on-chain evidence.