Weekly Recap: Crypto Revenue Falls Across Major Platforms; eToro Bets $231M on TradeZero

Digital-asset revenues declined across major trading platforms in the second quarter as weaker crypto markets weighed on activity. At eToro, cryptoasset revenue fell 30% year-on-year to $1.35 billion, while net contribution from crypto was just $12.5 million. Robinhood's cryptocurrency transaction revenue dropped 38% to $100 million, even as total net revenue increased 32% to $1.31 billion. Coinbase reported $1.2 billion in revenue and a $359 million net loss, with Bitcoin-related transactions accounting for only 12% of revenue. The declines occurred against a 12.6% fall in total crypto market capitalisation and a 27.9% drop in centralised exchange spot volume.

eToro also agreed to buy US brokerage TradeZero for up to $231 million, paying in cash and up to 2.5 million newly issued Class A shares. TradeZero generated about $80 million in revenue in the 12 months to June, with an 81% gross margin. The deal, which needs regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first half of 2027. eToro's net contribution rose 9% year-on-year to $229 million and net income reached $53.5 million; net trading income from equities, commodities and currencies climbed $27.6 million to $141.6 million.

Swissquote ended the first half with client assets of CHF 96.3 billion, up 19.8% year-on-year, but crypto income fell 66.2%. The company trimmed full-year guidance to about CHF 730 million in net revenue and CHF 365 million in pre-tax profit while reaffirming its 2028 target. Plus500 announced $182.5 million in shareholder returns — $100 million of buybacks and $82.5 million of dividends — exceeding its $151.9 million first-half net profit. CEO David Zruia said the US futures and prediction-markets business should achieve a margin of 20% or more, versus a 10% market-practice figure, with annualised revenue targeted at about $140 million in 2026.

Regulators were also active. Malta's MFSA said it had licensed 22 firms under MiCA and prioritises applicant quality over licence volumes, according to CEO Kenneth Farrugia. ASIC proposed extending Australia's retail OTC derivatives capital rules to October 2032, noting that CFD-related cases accounted for roughly 37% of its record AU$830 million in court-ordered penalties. CFDs themselves remained subdued: broker volume per active account declined at 45 of 51 tracked brokers, with the median down 9.7% to $3.06 million.

Trading technology vendors pushed further into AI. MetaQuotes said users processed more than 1 trillion tokens through the MT5 AI assistant since July, a figure CBO Christoforos Theodoulou described as evidence of an orchestrated coding agent. Spotware launched cTrader CLI to support command-line and AI-driven trading, while Match-Trade introduced AI skills for its Broker and CRM APIs.

Elsewhere, Revolut secured a full French banking licence from the ECB and will initially serve France before extending to five other EU markets, and named former Trading.com CEO Georgios Vasiliou to lead its Cyprus crypto unit. Emerging-market currencies outperformed many G10 pairs this year, with the Brazilian real up 8% against the dollar since January, according to Paul Golden.