- Robinhood expanded wallet services for BTC and DOGE, broadening beyond the Ethereum ecosystem.
- Wallet launch began with iOS, Polygon, and Ethereum; and expanded to layer-2 networks.
- Robinhood responds to user demand, plans wider access, integrates in-app swaps, and holds substantial bitcoin.
On Wednesday, Robinhood Markets Inc. introduced wallet functionality for bitcoin (BTC) and dogecoin (DOGE), expanding its crypto wallet’s scope beyond just the Ethereum ecosystem. According to a statement sent via email, all users of the Robinhood wallet now have the capability to transact with BTC and DOGE, as stated by the company.
Initially launched in September 2022, the company introduced its wallet to a limited group of iOS users, specifying that Polygon would serve as the primary blockchain for Robinhood Wallet. Subsequently, the wallet became available to iOS users across 130 nations in March. During this half-year period, Robinhood acknowledged the strong demand for increased coin variety across multiple blockchain networks, as explicitly stated in a blog post on Wednesday.
Following the introduction of Robinhood Wallet featuring custody services and send-receive capabilities for Polygon and Ethereum, the platform expanded its support to encompass layer-2 solutions Arbitrum and Optimism. This expansion was followed by the recent announcement on Wednesday, introducing compatibility with Bitcoin and Dogecoin networks.
Apart from incorporating Bitcoin and Dogecoin network functionalities accessible to all users, Robinhood is facilitating in-app swaps within the Ethereum network. Initially accessible to a limited group of users, these swaps cover over 200 tokens and commenced on Wednesday. The platform has plans to extend this feature to all users in the upcoming weeks.
In the past, individuals utilizing Robinhood’s wallet were exclusively able to execute crypto exchanges on the Polygon network through the decentralized exchange aggregator known as 0x API. Within Robinhood Wallet, users now possess the capability to engage in swaps without requiring a balance of ether (ETH), as the network fees are automatically subtracted from their existing token holdings. This user-friendly feature eliminates the need for separate ETH funds, as stated by the company.
“With Robinhood Wallet we stripped away many of the complexities of DeFi and the broader Web3 ecosystem, and reduced some of the challenges and barriers to entry for everyday people.”
Johann Kerbrat, general manager of Robinhood Crypto,
This expansion of offerings follows the introduction of Robinhood Connect in April. This service enables specific users within the United States to purchase and transfer cryptocurrencies to and from their Web3 wallets. In the blog post published on Wednesday, the company expressed its ongoing efforts to enhance accessibility to additional cost-effective, swift, and secure layer-2 blockchain networks that have been requested by users.
On the other hand, Arkham Intelligence data recently reported that Robinhood currently possesses a bitcoin holding valued at more than $3.2 billion. This noteworthy sum designates the widely-used trading application as the third-largest holder of this cryptocurrency globally.
Robinhood follows closely behind Binance and Bitfinex, who maintain even larger sums stored within individual wallets, with holdings of $6.4 billion and $4.3 billion respectively, as outlined in the mentioned report. Moreover, over the course of three months, Robinhood moved approximately 118,000 bitcoins to its main wallet from various smaller wallets
