Business briefing — October 28, 2026.

Robinhood’s record quarterly revenue masks a sharp fall in crypto trading

Robinhood reported third-quarter net revenue of $1.424 billion, up 12% year over year, while net income fell 14% to $476 million and diluted earnings per share declined to $0.51. Event-contract revenue rose to $173 million, more than six times its year-earlier level, overtaking cryptocurrency transaction revenue, which fell 55% to $120 million. The company also reported higher operating expenses and shares declined in after-hours trading.

What changed Crypto revenue recovered 20% from the second quarter, even though it remained 55% below the year-earlier level; the annual decline does not describe a continuous quarterly slide.

Why it matters For shareholders, expanding transaction businesses are not the whole earnings story: rising operating costs and lower interest income are also weighing on profitability.

What to watch next An unresolved question is whether event contracts attract new customers or mainly increase trading by existing users.

Visa reports 13% quarterly revenue growth and a 16% dividend increase

Visa’s fiscal fourth-quarter net revenue rose 13% year over year to $12.1 billion; payments volume increased 9% and cross-border volume grew 14% in constant dollars. The board raised the quarterly dividend 16% to $0.78 per share, and Visa said stablecoin settlement had reached a $25 billion annualized run rate. The company also said stablecoin pre-funding and cross-border transfers through Visa Direct had moved from pilot to commercial production.

What changed Visa Direct's stablecoin pre-funding and cross-border transfers have moved beyond testing to a live commercial service with Inyo Global.

Why it matters Visa's cross-border expansion supports its international transaction revenue, making the composition of payment growth relevant to shareholders—not just the overall volume increase.

What to watch next Mastercard reports third-quarter results on Thursday, providing a peer comparison for cross-border payment growth.

GMO offers $1 million bounty after breach as Japanese brokers tighten logins

GMO Internet Group offered up to $1 million for information leading to the identification and arrest of hackers who breached its trading-server service and published data they claimed came from customers. GMO said it would not pay the reported ¥8 billion ransom demand, and it has not disclosed how many customers’ information was published. Japanese brokers are tightening authentication, with FXTF requiring two-step login for its client portal and platform.

What changed FXTF is extending mandatory one-time-password protection from MT4 and MT5 to its client portal and FXTF GX platform after October 31 maintenance.

Why it matters Affected customers have remedies beyond password resets: GMO's compensation commitments include unauthorized-trading losses and replacement computers for ransomware victims.

What to watch next The total compensation bill remains unresolved until GMO establishes how many customers qualify and which information was exposed.

Plus500 launches Kalshi perpetual futures for US institutional clients

Plus500 has begun offering Kalshi’s non-expiring futures through its US brokerage, serving institutional clients and partner brokers. Kalshi said its perpetual contracts traded more than $5.5 billion in their first two weeks, while Plus500 said it is the first outside futures commission merchant to offer them. The product faces a legal challenge from CME, which argues in a lawsuit that Kalshi’s bitcoin perpetual should be regulated as a swap.

Why it matters Traders can maintain positions without expiry-driven rollovers, with Plus500 handling execution, routing and clearing through its own systems.

What to watch next The unresolved legal issue is whether Kalshi's bitcoin perpetual belongs under swap regulation, as CME argues in its lawsuit against the CFTC.

US sale of forfeited Anthropic shares yielded $627 million for FTX recoveries

Anthropic disclosed that the US government sold 4,453,900 shares forfeited by former FTX executives Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh for about $627 million in October 2025, with proceeds directed toward FTX creditor recoveries. The shares were resold to nine accredited investors at the same price Anthropic paid, and the company recorded no profit on the transactions. A later valuation scenario in the report puts the stake near $3.94 billion, but that is an estimate, not a realized sale price, and Anthropic has not finalized its IPO pricing.

What changed The October 2025 transaction became public through Anthropic's IPO registration, rather than representing a new government sale.

Why it matters FTX creditors benefit from the conversion of forfeited equity into compensation funds; the confirmed recovery is cash transferred to the estate, not the stake's hypothetical later value.

What to watch next The IPO share count and price range remain unspecified, leaving the resale investors' eventual gains unconfirmed.