Robinhood Rolls Out Crypto Wallet to Two Million Users
Robinhood has revealed that its cryptocurrency wallet has been rolled out to two million users on the waitlist. The company’s Chief Product Officer, Aparna Chennapragada, made the announcement at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami. With access to the wallet, users will be able to send and receive crypto.
There are some restrictions, however. Users in the states of Hawaii, Nevada, and New York will not have access to crypto wallets because of local regulations. Chennapragada also revealed that Bitcoin Lightning Network integration will soon happen, though she did not offer a specific date.
It did roll out the crypto wallet to 1,000 users in January 2022, but this more recent move is one that is a significant step forward for the platform, which has been highly anticipated. Robinhood has been working on a crypto wallet for some time, having first tested the wallet in Q3, 2021.
The crypto community has mostly been positive about the release of the wallet. They have their apprehensions about Robinhood, especially following the GameStop incident, but seem genuinely happy that the platform has crypto services. It is worth noting that Robinhood’s crypto wallet does not yet have support for NFTs and ERC-20 tokens.
This is certainly a good move for Robinhood as a company, but it remains to be seen whether this will help the company get out of a slump, as far as crypto revenue is concerned. In 2021, crypto revenue dropped from $233 million in Q2 to $51 million in Q2.
Could Robinhood’s crypto wallets boost business?
Robinhood’s share price has tanked since its IPO and is currently sitting only a little above its all-time low. The company has been at the center of a lot of bad press, including security issues. But the crypto wallets could mark the start of a turnaround for the beleaguered company.
Chennapragada said that the company would “play a very active role in crypto and shaping it.” However, this won’t come in the form of buying crypto, as the company’s CFO has said that the company has no plans to buy crypto assets with cash.
One step it is taking to introduce more crypto features is crypto gifting. This feature allows users to send crypto to others as a gift. It is also partnering with Chainalysis to ensure it is meeting compliance standards.
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