Robinhood’s long-awaited worldwide enlargement is at full throttle. The shopper trading and funding app tailor-made to the youthful generations is launching its crypto app to all eligible customers within the European Union, the corporate mentioned Thursday.
The announcement comes on the heels of its foray into the U.Okay. only a week in the past. While it’s taking crypto trading to EU prospects, it’s solely making its brokerage service accessible within the U.Okay. for now.
The EU has been on the forefront of formulating laws to implement the traceability of crypto for anti-money laundering and defending retailers from market volatility. Among an important frameworks is the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rule, which focuses on stablecoin regulation and is seen as one of many world’s most complete regimes for crypto property.
“The EU has developed one of the world’s most comprehensive policies for crypto asset regulation, which is why we chose the region to anchor Robinhood Crypto’s international expansion plans,” Johann Kerbrat, normal supervisor of Robinhood Crypto, mentioned in an announcement.
Aside from boasting low charges, Robinhood claims it’s the one custodial crypto platform — the place buyer funds lie within the custody of the trade slightly than their self-hosted wallets — that may get a share of their trading quantity again each month, paid in Bitcoin. Users within the EU should buy and promote some 25 cryptocurrencies, together with main ones like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Robinhood is taking different measures to guarantee European customers that they’re getting their cash’s value, given its previous enterprise practices have been lower than supreme. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission has criticized the inventory trading app for deceptive customers about the way it makes cash and failing to ship its promise of one of the best execution of trades. It ended up paying $65 million to settle these SEC expenses.
In its crypto endeavor within the EU, Robinhood guarantees transparency by displaying the trading unfold, which incorporates the rebate it receives from promote and commerce orders within the app.
It additionally ensures it can by no means commingle buyer cash with enterprise funds apart from for working functions, corresponding to fee of community charges. In the aftermath of FTX’s collapse, customers are more and more cautious of centralized, custodial crypto platforms and switching to decentralized options.
Robinhood itself has been skittish about its crypto operations. In June, it voluntarily moved to restrict the trading and holding of sure tokens for its U.S. prospects, at a time when the federal government was taking a firmer stance in opposition to trading giants like Binance and Coinbase.
The Robinhood Crypto app, accessible on iOS and Android beginning as we speak, is restricted to European residents who’re over 18 years outdated. The platform has plans to embrace extra tokens and add new options like crypto transfers, staking and studying rewards in 2024.