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.
The default Robinhood Gold Credit Card, which offers 3% cash back on eligible purchases.
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 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.”
Sam Altman tweeted about the Robinhood Solid Gold Card
X (formerly Twitter)
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.
Points are earned by spending on the Robinhood card, with 3 points conferred per dollar of spending on eligible categories.
The two options include a new 27 gram, 24 karat Gold Card for 100,000 points (~$1,000) and the original 36 gram, 10 karat Solid Gold Card for 850,000 points (~$8,500).
The new Robinhood 24k Gold Card, as seen in the app
Cardmembers can make a selection between the two cards in the app.
A Ludicrous Upgrade
The point costs for the two cards might seem ludicrous, but the 10 karat gold card is the only one that comes at a real premium to the actual ‘retail’ price of the gold. The 24 karat one, on the other hand, might come for a cool profit.
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 cards’ manufacturers 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 really moves the needle for Robinhood? Well, they’re doing just fine, but we’ll leave that estimation to its quarterly earnings reports.