Trading platform Robinhood Markets plans to offer a service that delivers cash to its customers alongside an artificial intelligence research assistant that offers trading advice.

The company said in a March 27 blog post that its online banking arm, Robinhood Banking, will offer savings accounts to its Gold subscribers through its partner Coastal Community Bank and will be given the option to have physical cash delivered on demand.

“You could be sitting at home and decide to get a cash delivery the same way you’d want to order an Uber or a Postmates,” Robinhood Markets CEO Vlad Tenev said during a livestream

He added there are already home delivery services for groceries and meals, but banking still “hasn’t progressed that much past the branch office and the ATM.”

https://t.co/oGJ630tmI2

— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) March 27, 2025

“In the past, cash delivery was a service that some private bankers offered to their high-end customers. It wouldn’t work exactly like this, though. The cash would be a much larger amount and would usually make its way to you in an armored vehicle,” he said.

The service terms and conditions state that the delivery service coverage is based on geographic location and that travel routes may be limited without mentioning who the drivers are or how they’re selected.

Robinhood’s concept for its planned cash delivery service. Source: Robinhood

The firm also has plans for a platform called Robinhood Strategies, offering a mix of single stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Later this year, the firm said it will launch an AI-powered research assistant called Cortex for its $5 a month Gold subscribers that can provide analyses and insights about market trends and stocks to consider trading.

Tenev said the firm spoke to traders about what would give them a better edge in stock trading and then spent two years developing Cortex, keeping their feedback in mind.

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Robinhood product management vice president Abhishek Fatehpuria added that the firm is looking to bring cryptocurrencies to the platform at some point in the future.

Robinhood has been expanding its footprint in emerging asset classes, including crypto and derivatives. 

The platform launched a prediction betting markets hub on March 17, which sent its stock surging by 8%.

Robinhood Markets (HOOD) closed the March 26 trading day down 7.1% at $44.73, which continued to fall an additional 2.84% after hours, according to Google Finance.

On March 13, the company listed memecoins like Pengu (PENGU), Pnut (PNUT) and Popcat (POPCAT) in a bid to expand its presence in crypto. In January, it rolled out futures contracts tied to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC).

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France-based The Blockchain Group has added another 580 Bitcoin to its Bitcoin treasury, following a 225% surge in its stock price since it began hoarding Bitcoin in November.

This is the largest of the three Bitcoin purchases made by the organization, per a March 26 after-hours statement. At the time of publication, 580 Bitcoin is worth $50.64 million, with Bitcoin’s (BTC) price trading at $87,311, according to CoinMarketCap data.

First purchases at pivotal Bitcoin moments

The Blockchain Group’s first two Bitcoin purchases happened around significant milestones for the Bitcoin industry. It bought 15 BTC on Nov. 5, the same day Donald Trump won the United States presidential election and before Bitcoin went on a month-long rally that saw it reach $100,000 for the first time in December.

Bitcoin is up 24.38% over the past 12 months. Source: CoinMarketCap

The second purchase was 25 Bitcoin on Dec. 4, when Bitcoin was trading at $96,000 during the post-election rally, with anticipation growing about a six-figure price — which happened the next day.

March 26 isn’t a major date for Bitcoin, but it’s five days before the end of Q1 2025 — a quarter where Bitcoin has underperformed compared to previous years’ first quarters — and it’s also approaching the first anniversary of the Bitcoin halving on April 20.

According to The Blockchain Group’s website, the Bitcoin strategy was an effort to leverage the holding company’s excess cash and appropriate financing instruments.

The Blockchain Group (ALTBG) is listed on Euronext Paris, Europe’s second-largest stock exchange by market cap.

The firm refers to itself as a “global umbrella” of companies specializing in data intelligence, AI and decentralized technology. Since it began its Bitcoin accumulation on Nov. 5, ALTBG has risen 225% to 0.48 euros ($0.52), according to Google Finance data.

The latest Bitcoin purchase was announced after the market already closed on March 26.

Blockchain Group SA stock has soared since it announced its Bitcoin accumulation. Source: Google Finance

It comes on the same day that GameStop shares jumped nearly 12% after the company announced plans to purchase Bitcoin.

The company plans to finance the purchase through debt financing. After markets closed on March 26, GameStop announced a $1.3 billion convertible notes offering.

Related: Bitcoin must break this level to resume bull market as $2.4B in BTC leaves exchanges

N7 Capital founder Anton Chashchin said in a recent statement viewed by Cointelegraph, “It’ll be interesting to observe if other companies take up the baton from GameStop and where this will lead the market.”

Meanwhile, US-based angel investor Jason Calacanis said buying Bitcoin was a solution well-suited for public companies that do not have a suitable business model.

Michael Saylor, the original advocate for corporate Bitcoin adoption, has led his firm, Strategy, to recently cross the 500,000 Bitcoin mark, currently holding 506,137 Bitcoin.

Between November and January, Strategy maintained a 12-week consecutive Bitcoin buying streak.

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This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

OpenAI expects to more than triple its revenue this year to $12.7 billion, despite fast-growing competition from the likes of China’s DeepSeek and other competitors making rapid progress.

The ChatGPT creators also expect its revenue target for 2025 to more than double to $29.4 billion by 2026, Bloomberg reported on March 26, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The 2025 estimate is a little higher than the $11.6 billion revenue target that OpenAI was reportedly eyeing for 2025, The New York Times reported last September.

Bloomberg noted that the bulk of ChatGPT’s revenue has come from its paid AI software subscription offerings for consumers and businesses.

OpenAI reportedly hit 1 million paid users for the corporate versions of ChatGPT last September, while the company more recently added a $200 monthly ChatGPT Pro option.

The Sam Altman-led firm does not expect to be cash-flow positive until 2029, when it expects its revenue to top $125 billion, the person told Bloomberg.

OpenAI is reportedly close to finalizing a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank Group at a valuation of up to $300 billion, Bloomberg reported on March 26. The firm is also looking to convert its nonprofit business model into a for-profit venture.

Competition heats up between US and Chinese AI players

While the release of DeepSeek’s ChatGPT-competitor “R-1” model sent shockwaves through the AI industry in late January, it sparked a wave of several other high-quality, low-cost AI solutions from other Chinese tech firms, Bloomberg reported on March 26.

Baidu Inc. launched its “Ernie X1” model to compete with DeepSeek’s R-1 model in China, while Alibaba Group launched its new open-source AI model for cost-effective AI agents on March 26.

Source: David Sacks

Tencent Holdings also unveiled an AI chatbot of its own under subsidiary firm Ant Group Co, while DeepSeek released its latest model — DeepSeek-V3-0324 — on March 24.

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While it remains to be seen how these Chinese models truly stack up against OpenAI’s products, the newer and often cheaper options are putting more pressure on the business models of leading US companies, Balaji Srinivasan, a tech investor and former general partner at tech-focused venture capital firm Andreessen “a16z” Horowitz said in a March 22 X post.

“China is trying to do to AI what they always do: study, copy, optimize, and then bankrupt everyone with low prices and enormous scale.”

Lee Kai-fu, CEO of Chinese startup 01.AI told Reuters on March 25 that DeepSeek’s efforts have positioned Chinese AI firms only three months behind their US counterparts after previously being around six to nine months behind.

Source: The Short Bear

Meanwhile, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman said on Feb. 12 that his firm is looking to ship GPT-4.5 and GPT-5 in the coming weeks or months.

Plus and Pro subscribers will be able to run GPT-5 at a “higher level of intelligence” which will incorporate voice, canvas, search, deep research features and more, he said in OpenAI’s technical roadmap update.

Among OpenAI’s competitors in the US market are Anthropic, DeepMind, xAI and Google’s Gemini.

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