Robinhood, a retail trading platform, according to sources is said to be testing a long-awaited new crypto wallet feature that allows users to transfer and receive crypto-assets like Bitcoin (BTC) from its app.
On September 21, Bloomberg reported the story, claiming to have seen screenshots of a withdrawal UI in a test version of Robinhood’s wallet feature in the IOS app.
Bloomberg claims to have observed a waitlist where customers can join up for the new digital asset wallet, though details are scarce. The program also features code that refers to cryptocurrency transfers, according to the report.
Because the app does not accept crypto deposits or withdrawals, Robinhood customers may only buy crypto with US dollars and trade digital assets on the site.
Crypto traders have been pleading with Robinhood to provide deposit and withdrawal capability for digital currencies for a long time, and the requests have become louder this year as a swarm of fervent Dogecoin supporters descended on the site.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev revealed on the company’s quarterly earnings call on August 19 that the company was finally looking into releasing a cryptocurrency wallet.
“I know there’s been a lot of excitement from the crypto community, especially the Dogecoin community, in obtaining access to wallets,” Tenev said, highlighting the company’s eagerness to introduce the new functionality.
In 2018, Robinhood began offering Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services to users in five U.S. states. Since then, Robinhood has expanded its cryptocurrency support, allowing traders in all but four U.S. states to use its crypto capabilities.
In 2021, crypto services have become a substantial portion of Robinhood’s business, with the company’s Q2 report stating that crypto trading accounted for about 41% of its $565 million revenue. Crypto trading, on the other hand, brought in $5 million for the entire year of 2020.
The company boosted its crypto offerings earlier this month by introducing recurring crypto investing option that allows users to dollar cost average (DCA) into bitcoin positions.
Robinhood isn’t alone in wanting to expand its crypto support, with a growing number of mainstream companies declaring plans to accept digital currency payments.
AMC Entertainment wants to allow movie ticket payments in Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) by 2022. In August, the company announced that it would support Bitcoin payments.
Adobe also announced on Sept. 15 that beginning in the fourth quarter of this year, merchants using its Adobe Commerce solution will be able to accept cryptocurrency payments via Paypal.
