eToro (ETOR) doubled down on its commitment to cryptocurrencies even as digital asset activity weakened in the first quarter and April.
Cryptoasset revenue fell 38% from the prior-year quarter to $2.15 billion, the company said in its first-quarter earnings report released Tuesday. Crypto derivatives net trading revenue fell 57% to $33.4 million, while overall net revenue rose 37% to $82.4 million.
The trading platform said the decline in crypto activity extended into April, with a 32% year-on-year drop in the total number of crypto trades and a 22% drop in the amount invested per trade. Despite the crisis, CEO Yoni Assia expressed a bullish outlook.
“We hope that later this year we will start to see cryptocurrencies rise again to, you know, near all-time highs and that will drive cryptocurrency participation,” Assia told CNBC, adding that the platform’s data suggests that when markets fall, “retail investors on eToro actually buy the dip.”
The company said it activated its BitLicense to begin operations in New York, three years after it was granted, and completed the $70 million acquisition of crypto wallet provider Zengo, which closed on April 30.
“The acquisition of Zengo, a leading provider of self-custodial crypto wallets, significantly advances our strategy of bridging traditional finance with on-chain infrastructure, prediction markets, perpetuals and the broader crypto ecosystem,” Assia said in the report.
Etoro shares fell 0.61% in premarket trading on Wednesday.
