Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev Defends Payment for Order Flow, Saying 'It's Here to Stay'

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev defended payment for order flow in a CNBC interview, saying it's "inherently here to stay." PFOF describes the practice of routing trades through market-makers like Citadel Securities in return for a slice of the profits. PFOF accounts for only about 5% of Robinhood's current revenues. Most of its income now comes from net interest on customer balances. Transaction revenues including PFOF decreased 7% in the last quarter. While banned in some jurisdictions like the UK and EU, Tenev believes PFOF is "inherently here to stay" in the US market due to its role in Robinhood's and other brokers' business models.