Cryptocurrency integration in the mainstream sector is gaining momentum. Barely three months after adding support for virtual currencies, Robinhood Financial LLC has added support for two new locations. Traders in Wisconsin and New Mexico will now be able to trade cryptocurrencies through the company’s app.
Robinhood Financial Cryptocurrency Support
The U.S stocks brokerage app now offers cryptocurrency trading opportunities in eight U.S states. The addition of Wisconsin is of great importance given that the state is home to almost 6 million people from where the firm hopes to draw a lot of traffic. Furthermore, New Mexico with a population of 2 million means that Robinhood will now have access to over 8 million people from the two locations.
After launching the service in California, the company has expanded into Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire and Colorado. Plans are already underway to have the service offered in more states.
The financial services company currently offers market data in sixteen cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC).
In addition to offering market data, the firm also plans to unveil Robinhood Feed. It will act as a platform where people can carry out discussions on various digital currencies that will also be able to share news and market swings updates in real time
Digital currency will become the first paid product other than trading on margin that Robinhood supports. The firm made a name for itself by letting people buy and sell stocks without fees. However, the firm will charge cryptocurrency transactions to recoup costs incurred in trading the assets, but will not take a commission.
Robinhood vs. Coinbase
Robinhood expanding its footprint in the cryptocurrency space should be a point of concern for Coinbase. The two were formed almost the same time and are now part of a small crowd of FinTech startups looking to make a name for themselves in the fast emerging marketplace.
Coinbase is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges with a customer base of about 13 million people. Robinhood faces an uphill task to dethrone the exchange given that its user base currently stands at less than half of Coinbase.
Unlike in 2017, growth i cryptocurrencies appears to have slowed as major exchanges continue to suffer from slow trading. Sell-off of crypto assets early this year seems to have triggered some fear among investors, resulting in reduced trading. This negatively affects crypto exchanges operations and returns.
