DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

NOTE 1: DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Robinhood Markets, Inc. (“RHM” and, together with its subsidiaries, “Robinhood,” the “Company,” “we,” or “us”) was incorporated in the State of Delaware on November 22, 2013. Our most significant, wholly-owned subsidiaries are:

•Robinhood Financial LLC (“RHF”), a registered introducing broker-dealer;

•Robinhood Securities, LLC (“RHS”), a registered clearing broker-dealer;

•Robinhood Crypto, LLC (“RHC”), which provides users the ability to buy, sell, and transfer cryptocurrencies and is responsible for the custody of user cryptocurrencies held on our platform;

•Robinhood Money, LLC (“RHY”), which offers a pre-paid debit card (the “Robinhood Cash Card”) and a spending account that help customers invest, save, and earn rewards; and

•Robinhood Credit, Inc. (“Robinhood Credit”), which offers a no-fee credit card with rewards on each purchase.

Acting as the agent of the user, we facilitate the purchase and sale of options, cryptocurrencies, and equities through our platform by routing transactions through market makers, who are responsible for trade execution. Upon execution of a trade, users are legally required to purchase options, cryptocurrencies, or equities for cash from the transaction counterparty or to sell options, cryptocurrencies, or equities for cash to the transaction counterparty, depending on the transaction. We facilitate and confirm trades only when there are binding, matched legal obligations from the user and the market maker on both sides of the trade. Our users have ownership of the securities they transact on our platform, including those that collateralize margin loans, and, as a result, such securities are not presented on our unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets, other than user-held fractional shares which are presented gross. Our users also have ownership of the cryptocurrencies they transact on our platform (none of which are allowed to be purchased on margin and which do not serve as collateral for margin loans), and we recognize a liability to reflect our safeguarding obligation along with a corresponding asset on our balance sheet related to the cryptocurrencies we hold in custody for users.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC for interim financial reporting. The condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited, and in management’s opinion, include all adjustments, including normal recurring adjustments and accruals necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim periods presented. Operating results for the periods presented are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full fiscal year ending December 31, 2023 or any future period. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited annual consolidated financial statements and notes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 (“2022 Form 10-K”).

There have been no material changes in our significant accounting policies as described in our audited consolidated financial statements included in our 2022 Form 10-K. The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of RHM and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated.

Certain prior-period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current period’s presentation. The impact of these reclassifications is immaterial to the presentation of the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and had no impact on previously reported total assets, total liabilities and net loss.

During the three months ended March 31, 2023, we reorganized our management reporting structure from a single entity-level reporting unit into four reporting units. As a result, we performed a goodwill impairment assessment immediately before and after the reorganization. This quantitative assessment did not result in impairment, considering the fair value of each reporting unit was substantially in excess of the corresponding carrying amount of net assets. We continue to operate and report financial information in one operating segment.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts in the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience, and other assumptions we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Assumptions and estimates used in preparing our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include, but are not limited to, those related to revenue recognition and share-based compensation, the determination of allowances for credit losses, valuation of user cryptocurrencies safeguarding obligation and corresponding asset, investment valuation, capitalization of internally developed software, useful lives of property, software, and equipment, valuation and useful lives of intangible assets, incremental borrowing rate used to calculate operating lease right-of-use assets and related liabilities, impairment of long-lived assets, determination of hedge effectiveness, uncertain tax positions, income taxes, accrued and contingent liabilities. Actual results could differ from these estimates and could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

Concentrations of Revenue and Credit Risk

Concentrations of Revenue

We derived transaction-based revenues from individual market makers in excess of 10% of total revenues, as follows:


	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2022		2023		2022		2023
Market maker:
Citadel Securities, LLC	12	%	11	%	17	%	12	%





All others individually less than 10%	44	%	26	%	46	%	28	%
Total as percentage of total revenue:	56	%	37	%	63	%	40	%

Concentrations of Credit Risk

We are engaged in various trading and brokerage activities in which the counterparties primarily include broker-dealers, banks, and other financial institutions. In the event our counterparties do not fulfill their obligations, we may be exposed to risk. The risk of default depends on the creditworthiness of the counterparty. Default of a counterparty in equities and options trades, which are facilitated through clearinghouses, would generally be spread among the clearinghouse's members rather than falling entirely on us. It is our policy to review, as necessary, the credit standing of each counterparty.

In March 2023, certain U.S. banks failed and were taken over by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”). Our exposure to impacted U.S. banks was immaterial. However, we took steps to

help ensure that the loss of all or a significant portion of any uninsured amount would not have had an adverse effect on our ability to pay our operational expenses or make other payments.

Investments

We invest in marketable debt securities and determine the classification at the time of purchase.

Available-for-sale investments are recorded at fair value. We have elected the fair value option for our available-for-sale investments as we believe carrying these investments at fair value and taking changes in fair value through earnings best reflects their underlying economics. Fair value adjustments are presented in other (income) expense, net and interest earned on the debt securities as net interest revenues in our unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations.

Held-to-maturity investments are securities that we have both the ability and positive intent to hold until maturity and are recorded at amortized cost. Interest income is calculated using the effective interest method, adjusted for deferred fees or costs, premium, or discount existing at the date of purchase. Interest earned is included in net interest revenues in our unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations. We evaluate held-to-maturity investment for credit losses on a quarterly basis. We do not expect credit losses for our held-to-maturity investments that are obligations of states and political subdivisions and securities issued by U.S. government sponsored agencies. We monitor remaining securities by type and standard credit rating. There was no reserve for credit losses as of September 30, 2023.

Derivatives and Hedging Activities

All derivatives are recorded at fair value. The accounting for changes in the fair value of derivatives depends on the intended use of the derivative, whether we have elected to designate the derivative in a hedging relationship and whether the hedging relationship has satisfied the criteria necessary to apply hedge accounting if elected. As part of our interest rate risk management strategy, we use interest rate floors designated as cash flow hedges which involve the receipt of offsetting cash flows from a counterparty if interest rates fall below the strike rate on the contract in exchange for an up-front premium. Changes in fair value of the cash flow hedges are recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (“AOCI”) and are subsequently reclassified to net interest revenues as interest payments are received on the hedged item. We assess hedge effectiveness on a quarterly basis to ensure all hedges remain highly effective. If the derivative financial instruments designated as cash flow hedges are deemed ineffective, changes in the fair value of the derivative financial instrument are recognized directly in net interest revenues.

We are exposed to credit risk if counterparties to our derivative contracts do not perform pursuant to the terms of our interest rate floors. Should a counterparty fail to perform under the terms of our interest rate floors, our credit exposure is limited to the net positive fair value and accrued interest owed from the failing counterparty. We mitigate counterparty credit risk through credit approvals, credit limits and monitoring procedures, as appropriate.

We enter into master netting agreements with counterparties that permit the net settlement of amounts owed under the derivative contracts. The master netting agreements generally provide for net settlement of all outstanding contracts with a counterparty in the case of an event of default or a termination event. We do not offset fair value amounts recognized for derivative instruments under master netting arrangements. Our derivative contracts do not require collateral to be posted by us or the counterparties.