Robinhood App To Allow Cryptocurrency Trading At ‘Zero-Fees’ Starting Next Month

Popular stock investing app ‘Robinhood’ is planning to venture into the much lucrative crypto space and allow its users to trade cryptocurrencies, starting next month. One of the major USPs of the Robinhood app is its zero commission approach which has attracted a lot of millennial to its platform.

The app already allows tracking the price of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and 15 others in addition to tracking the news relating to cryptos. Moreover, users can also set up notification alerts to stay alert when any particular cryptocurrency reaching a certain price point.

The company said that the decision to venture into the crypto space when it saw that a huge number of its users were searching for digital currencies on its platform. Vlad Tenev, Robinhood co-founder said “We’re planning to operate this business on a break-even basis and we don’t plan to profit from it for the foreseeable future. The value of Robinhood Crypto is in growing our customer base and better serving our existing customers.”

With the cryptocurrency craze going to its peak last year, popular cryptocurrency exchanges across the globe are having a gala time with their earnings. Latest report shows the U.S-based exchanges ‘Coinbase’ managed to make a billion dollar revenue last year in 2017. Robinhood’s entry into the crypto space with its zero-fees model could really pose a major concern for exchanges in the market.

Mr. Tenev says that Crypto “puts power that’s historically been held by financial institutions in the hands of the people. I think that lines up directly with Robinhood’s mission to democratize the financial system.”

Robinhood’s entry can also give a big boost to the crypto markets as more number of investors are expected to join this space. Moreover, Robinhood has also confirmed that it will have no minimum or maximum investment requirement and as well no limits for withdrawal on cryptocurrency trading.

The trading feature on the app will be launched next month, and Robinhood plans to put only two cryptocurrencies - Bitcoin and Ethereum to be allowed to trade in the beginning. Moreover, in the initial stage, the app will be available to users in few selected like California, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, and New Hampshire and more cities will be added later on.

Mr. Tenev said: “We’re extremely selective about the cryptos we’re making available on the platform. We’re introducing those first because these are the most mature coins that people are trading these days. Multiple times people have declared them dead and they’ve come back stronger than ever.”

Note that Robinhood itself won’t be acting like an exchange in the market but more like a broker-dealer. Robinhood will partner with several big institutions to acquire the digital currencies in the first place.

It would really be interesting to test this app as soon as it goes live on the market next month.