More than 1 million people are on the waitlist for Robinhood’s long-awaited crypto wallet in accordance to CEO Vlad Tenev
Speaking to Jim Cramer throughout CNBC’s Disruptor 50 summit on Oct. 21, Tenev acknowledged that was very “proud” of Robinhood’s progress in crypto, as he highlighted the agency’s latest push to present a crypto wallet for its customers:
(*1*)
“We see an opportunity to continue growing that business,” he added.
Robinhood customers have lengthy urged the corporate to develop a crypto wallet because the platform at present doesn’t help deposits or withdrawals, and solely permits customers to purchase crypto with U.S. {dollars} and commerce digital belongings on the platform.
On Sept. 22, Robinhood lastly introduced its plans to roll out a digital asset wallet, and opened up a waitlist for first entry to the brand new function. A Robinhood consultant told Market Watch final month that the wallet will debut this month for some customers, and can finally open up to all customers in early 2022.
During the occasion Tenev emphasised the significance of the rising crypto sector, noting that it’s “here to stay as an asset class” and it holds particular benefits corresponding to having the ability to join a world market.
“So, you know, regardless of where you are in the world whether you’re in the U.S. or overseas, you can have a wallet, you can send people cryptocurrencies from that wallet to their wallet.,” he mentioned.
Related: Robinhood launches 24/7 telephone help, crypto customers included
Robinhood first launched Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) buying and selling in 2018 for patrons in 5 U.S. states. Robinhood has since expanded its altcoin help to belongings corresponding to Dogecoin (DOGE) and Litecoin (LTC), and at present permits merchants primarily based in all however 4 U.S. states to entry its commission-free crypto buying and selling providers.
When Teven was requested if Robinhood would broaden help to Shiba Inu (SHIB), the CEO prompt that it was unlikely anytime quickly as he cited the agency’s stringent itemizing coverage.
“We only offer seven coins currently. And I think it goes back to safety first, right. So we’re not generally going to be the first to add any new asset. We want to make sure that it goes through a stringent set of criteria,”
Speaking on the agency’s imaginative and prescient, Tenev argued that Robinhood gives a higher likelihood for monetary inclusion than its opponents, as he asserted that its commission-free buying and selling construction “changed the industry.”
“I think that, you look at cryptocurrencies, for instance, people are still paying 3%, 4% fees to access that market. You see a lot of opportunities to serve more customers that have even less money, who are even more underserved than the people we have now,” he mentioned.
