Delphi Digital Highlights Robinhood, Hyperliquid and Lighter in Trading Thesis

Delphi Digital’s Oct. 20 analysis highlights Robinhood, Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Lighter (LIT) as businesses tied to speculative trading, arguing that platforms able to capture trading revenue may benefit as technology and economic pressures change what customers trade.

The thesis centers on a platform’s ability to turn trading activity into revenue. It emphasizes profitability, fee capture and access to users as ways to evaluate businesses operating in a market where customer interest can shift among products.

Robinhood’s second-quarter results show how that mix can vary. The company reported $156 million in event-contract revenue, $100 million from cryptocurrency transactions, $129 million from equities and $342 million from options. Event contracts generated more revenue than crypto transactions or equities, while options was the largest of the four categories. Crypto transaction revenue fell 38% from a year earlier.

The onchain examples have different revenue and token structures. Hyperliquid uses part of its trading fees to buy HYPE and remove the tokens from circulation. Those purchases do not give HYPE holders an equity stake in the company.

Ordinary retail accounts pay no trading fees on Lighter. Premium accounts and distribution deals could generate revenue for Lighter. Robinhood Wallet also offers access to Lighter perpetual futures outside the United States, illustrating a distribution channel beyond Lighter’s retail trading fees.

The assets represent different claims: HOOD is the ticker for Robinhood shares, while HYPE and LIT are tokens. Robinhood is scheduled to report third-quarter results after the U.S. market closes Tuesday, Oct. 27. The results may offer a further measure of how its trading mix is changing.