Robinhood Cuts 290 Jobs as Crypto Trading Halves, Hyperliquid SPCX Demand Spikes

Crypto News

Surface Metals advanced its dual-track resource strategy this week, moving closer to full ownership of its Clayton Valley lithium brine project in Nevada. The company revised its option agreement to position for a 100% stake in an asset estimated to hold roughly 302,900 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, with prior investment commitments already exceeded. On the gold side, its Cimarron project expanded to 69 claims spanning about 1,079 acres, with historical drilling confirming intercepts including 2.23 g/t gold over 32 metres. Surface Metals also listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in March, adding to its Canadian and OTCQB listings as it broadens access to European institutional capital ahead of a planned 2026 drill campaign.

Robinhood is cutting roughly 290 jobs, about 10% of its workforce, in a restructuring aimed at flattening management layers. CEO Vlad Tenev framed the move as a proactive step to raise performance standards, even as the company books an estimated $28 million charge — $20 million in severance and benefits, plus $8 million in stock-based compensation — in the second quarter of 2026. The decision lands against softer first-quarter results, with crypto trading volume down roughly 50% year over year, exposing the volatility of a fee-dependent model. The company says it will keep hiring top talent and investing in technology, while the retrenchment echoes recent efficiency-driven cuts across the broader fintech and digital-asset sector.

A high-profile sports-betting story rippled through crypto-adjacent communities after a roughly $1 million wager ballooned to about $5.7 million. The bet, placed on an online sportsbook, backed underdog Justin Gaethje, who scored a fourth-round TKO over Ilia Topuria to claim the unified UFC lightweight title on June 14. The position, which started near $50,000 before escalating amid livestreamed hype, returned an estimated $4.7 million in profit. The episode drew scrutiny because UFC has barred fighters from betting on bouts since 2022, and no formal sanction has been announced. It underscored how outsized wagers increasingly circulate as viral content in their own right across social platforms.

Demand for synthetic exposure to SpaceX surged on Hyperliquid, where SPCX perpetual futures emerged as an alternative after tokenized SpaceX products faced delivery delays. Unlike tokenized equities, which require sourcing and custodying real shares, perpetual contracts can be listed almost instantly, letting the venue scale supply rapidly when demand spikes. The trade-off is steep: holders gain no shareholder rights or direct ownership, and prices can diverge from intrinsic value as leverage, funding costs and basis risk amplify swings. Hyperliquid, which operates as its own appchain-style derivatives venue rather than a conventional AMM, illustrates why traders must clearly distinguish tokenization from synthetic exposure.

South Pacific Metals reported a string of high-grade drill results across its gold-copper projects in Papua New Guinea, sharpening interest in the Ontenu NE target. Drill hole ONED26-007 returned 3.1 g/t gold over 12 metres, including a one-metre interval grading 18.1 g/t gold, while surface samples reached 21.2% copper, 310 g/t silver and 8.6 g/t gold. Gold mineralization appeared in five of seven drill holes, and the company is deploying a second rig toward a planned 5,000-metre program. Management was reinforced with a new board member and chief financial officer, alongside stock-option and restricted-unit grants designed to align executives with shareholders as exploration accelerates.

Financial stocks rallied on expectations that accelerating bank lending will lift earnings. KB Financial closed up 1.42% at 172,000 won after touching an intraday 52-week high of 182,700 won, while Shinhan and Hana shares also advanced. Central-bank data showed household loans at deposit banks reached 1,181.8 trillion won at the end of May, a 6.9 trillion won monthly increase — the largest in roughly a year and nine months. Analysts argued that low-cost deposit funding could support a net interest margin recovery, turning loan growth into improved profitability. Easing geopolitical risk added further support to sentiment toward the rate-sensitive sector.

Taken together, these threads point to capital hunting for asymmetric returns while risk appetite in crypto stays compressed. COINOTAG's aggregate market data shows a Fear & Greed Index at 23 of 100 — firmly in extreme fear — with Bitcoin dominance at 69.6% and total crypto market capitalization near $1.93 trillion, signs that liquidity is concentrating in majors rather than rotating into altcoins. That backdrop helps explain Robinhood's crypto-volume slump and the pull toward synthetic and real-asset bets alike. With sentiment skewed toward a defensive, near-bear-market posture, primary indicators — corporate filings, on-chain flows and exchange disclosures — remain the cleaner read on where conviction actually sits.