The Bitcoin bandwagon has taken a hit in recent weeks, but that hit came after an incredible boom which left many of those who invested in the cryptocurrency with much bulkier bank accounts. Anyone who bought when prices were low could have reaped incredible benefits from BTC’s rise in value.
Now, thanks to a popular commission-free trading app for stocks called Robinhood, you can take similar gambles on cryptocurrencies without any pesky transaction fees. Robinhood is an established trading app that has become very popular with millennials, and now they have introduced a new crypto element to its offerings. This will allow users to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum, and track many other top crypto coins within the app.
Robinhood co-founder, Vlad Tenev, told Tech Crunch that the value of their product comes from their users’ experience.
He 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.”
Their plan going forward is to cross traditional trading with crypto trading within one app.
The app allows users to transfer money from their bank account and gives traders a 24 hour trading window. When a user buys or sells, it gives them an estimated price and then connects with several trading venues to find the best price.
At the moment, only BTC and ETH are available for trading but they hope to change this soon. Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ripple, Ethereum Classic, Zcash, Monero, Dash, Stellar, Qtum, Bitcoin Gold, OmiseGo, NEO, Lisk, and Dogecoin can all be tracked within Robinhood.
However, not all of Robinhood’s users can take advantage of Robinhood Crypto just yet. Robinhood is currently rolling out early access to crypto trading to their users who are on a waiting list, and according to their site, there are currently over a million people on that list.
We're gradually sending invites to customers residing in CA, MA, MO, MT, NH. We look forward to releasing crypto trading functionality in more states later. In the meantime, you can monitor market data for 16 cryptocurrencies & add them to your watchlist. https://t.co/28TamoX4rO
— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) February 23, 2018
One thing is for sure, Robinhood’s commission-free Bitcoin trading is going to sorely affect Coinbase, which is currently the most popular app for buying cryptocurrency. Coinbase currently charges a 1.5% to 4% commission fee on cryptocurrency purchases. Time will tell if Coinbase is forced to drop their fees in order to stay competitive.