What's going on?

Robinhood posted a disappointing earnings update this week, in the trading platform�s first since it listed on the stock market.

What does this mean?

Meme stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment may have boosted Robinhood�s bank balance at the start of the year, but last quarter�s revenue � which surged 131% versus the same time last year � had a different headline-grabber to thank: crypto trading drove around 51% of the company�s revenue, up from 17% in the previous quarter.

The future isn�t looking quite so promising, mind you. For one thing, a significant portion of that trading was on dogecoin, which investors � who might be realizing that the one-time joke is no laughing matter � have sent down more than 50% from its May highs. Throw in the fact that summer tends to be a quiet period anyway, and crypto trading � and, by extension, the segment�s revenue � is likely to drop off this quarter.

Why should I care?

For markets: It�s all about those Benjamins.

If cryptocurrency trading does slow down, it�ll impact Robinhood in one of two ways: it�ll either reduce the amount of cash the company generates, or it�ll push those cash flows into a later quarter (tweet this). Either way, its stock � which investors value by how much cash they think it will generate in the future (discounted back to today) � will be worth less now, which might be why Robinhood�s shares initially fell 10% on Thursday.

The bigger picture: The crypto slowdown is real.

Robinhood is right to be nervous about the crypto market: Nvidia � which reported better-than-expected revenue and profit late on Wednesday � said sales of microchips used for crypto mining last quarter were 30% lower than the chipmaker had been expecting. That suggests there�ll be less enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies themselves going forward, at least in the near term.