When Robinhood (HOOD) launched its 3% cash back Gold Credit Card, it sent shockwaves through the credit card industry. Not just because 3% cash back on all purchases is unheard of, but because many industry analysts speculated that — if sustainable — the fintech giant could do to the credit business what it did to the brokerage model.
Thankfully for the old guard, thus far, its rollout has been slow-going. Although it's an exclusive offering to subscribers of the Robinhood Gold subscription, it remains elusive to most on its million-plus member waitlist. Per Robinhood, over 300,000 people now have the Card.
But as it turns out, there's more exclusive features than just earning 3% cash back — at least if you're willing to pay spend the price.
Going Solid Gold
Creditors have embraced the trend of issuing heavy, metal credit cards to cardholders to give their products a ‘luxury' feel. However, Robinhood has taken a step further, creating the first credit card made out of Solid Gold.
Made out of one-troy ounce (~31.10 grams) of 10 karat gold, the Robinhood Solid Gold Card was initially used to promote the new credit card. Robinhood committed to give away 5,000 of the ultra-exclusive variant to approved cardholders who referred 10 members to the Robinhood Gold subscription. At the time, it had a melt value of $1,100 to $1,200.
Soon enough, it landed in the hands of tech and personal finance influencers, plus a lucky few folks who jumped through the hoops and scored those 10 referrals. Its ubiquity drew the attention of many, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who tweeted that it was “an example [he gives] when talking about great design.”
In the replies to many of Robinhood's posts on X (formerly Twitter), users requested that the company give cardmembers an option to upgrade from the card's default card option, a 17 gram, ‘gold-washed' stainless steel card.
That wasn't a possibility until Thursday, when the company emailed cardmembers, telling them that they had the option to ‘upgrade' to a Solid Gold variant.
How to Upgrade Your Robinhood Gold Card
In an email provided to TheStreet, Robinhood publicized that it would offer two variants of its premium Solid Gold card to users who want to upgrade with Points.
The two options include a new 24 karat Gold Card for 100,000 points (~$1,000) and the original 10 karat Solid Gold Card for 850,000 points (~$8,500). Points are earned by spending on the Robinhood card, with 3 points conferred per dollar of spending on eligible categories.
The selection can be made in the app.
A Ludicrous Upgrade
The point costs for the two cards are ludicrous, coming at a steep premium to the actual ‘retail' price of 24 and 10 karat gold. For a cardmember to accumulate the points necessary to buy the 24 karat and Solid Gold variants, they would have to spend over $33,333 and $283,334, respectively.
Aside from the astronomical spending required, that means they'd also have to hold onto thousands of dollars of cash back in the Robinhood Credit Card app. And given devaluations across airline, hotel, and credit partners, that would mean betting on the good-faith of Robinhood to maintain the 3% redemption value that it has attracted a critical mass by.
Still, for those sold on the dream of throwing a Solid Gold credit card on the tab to flex at dinner with friends or family, the one-time wish has been granted by Robinhood and the folks manufacturing the cards at CompoSecure (CMPO) , the largest manufacturer of premium credit cards.
For the moment, cardmembers will have to wait to review their options. The Robinhood Credit Card app crashed after the initial email was sent out, with an error message in the app that reads: “An unexpected error occurred.”
And whether selling solid gold credit cards moves the needle for Robinhood? Well, we'll leave that estimation to its quarterly earnings reports.
