Brokerage App Robinhood Thinks Bitcoin Belongs in Your Retirement Plan

Late one Monday morning last December, Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev, co-chief executive officers of online stock brokerage Robinhood, called an emergency meeting in the company’s cramped Palo Alto office. Behind them on a flatscreen TV an image of the Greek sun god, Helios, appeared over a hot pink background with the words “DON’T SLEEP” in giant, yellow type. On the bottom, right-hand corner of the image was a date: Jan. 31.

The meeting was short but to the point. Bhatt and Tenev told the 150 employees—some watching via video from Robinhood’s Orlando office—that the company was in danger of missing out on Bitcoin, which, as they saw it, was the biggest thing to happen to the financial-services industry in decades. Workers would have to drop what they were doing and focus on giving clients access to it, or Robinhood might become irrelevant. “We haven’t been taking this seriously,” Bhatt recalls telling the staff.