While digital asset activity weakened in the first quarter and into April, EToro (ETOR) has increased its commitment to cryptocurrencies.
In its first-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, the company said crypto asset revenue fell 38% from a year earlier to $2.15 billion. Net trading revenue from cryptocurrency derivatives fell 57% to $33.4 million, while overall net profit increased 37% to $82.4 million.
The trading platform said that the downward trend in cryptocurrency activity continued into April, with the total number of cryptocurrency transactions falling by 32% year-on-year, and the amount invested per transaction falling by 22%. Despite the economic downturn, CEO Yoni Assia expressed an optimistic outlook.
“We do expect that later this year, cryptocurrency prices will start to recover to near all-time highs, which will drive cryptocurrency participation,” Assia told CNBC. He added that the platform’s data showed that when the market drops, “retail investors on eToro will actually buy the dip.”
The company said it completed a $70 million acquisition of crypto wallet provider Zengo on April 30, three years after it obtained the BitLicense and launched trading in New York.
“The acquisition of Zengo, the leading self-hosted crypto wallet provider, meaningfully advances our strategy of connecting traditional finance with on-chain infrastructure, prediction markets, perpetual contracts and the broader crypto ecosystem,” Assia said in the report.
Etoro shares fell 0.61% in pre-market trading Wednesday.
