Retail trading app Robinhood has enabled bitcoin transfers in and out of its app for all users, the company’s Twitter account announced Thursday.
“Crypto transfers are here,” the tweet read. “You can now send and receive all listed crypto assets on Robinhood.”
The tweet featured a video in which the company announced it won’t charge fees for bitcoin transfers out of its platform.
Robinhood’s history with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies isn’t new. The financial services company, which appeals mainly to retail investors and popularized the commission-free stock trading model, began dipping its toes into the sector in 2018 after it announced the imminent launch of its cryptocurrency-focused subsidiary, Robinhood Crypto.
Since then, the app that brings low-cost trading to investors’ fingertips has grown immensely in popularity among the cryptocurrency crowd. However, the firm had been a center for criticism among Bitcoin users for not allowing customers to withdraw their purchased coins to self-custody wallets – something it is now trying to put to rest.
The firm started testing its bitcoin withdrawal feature in September 2021, and in under two months 1.6 million users were on the waitlist to access the functionality. It first began rolling out bitcoin withdrawals in January 2022.
Now, by enabling the feature to all users, Robinhood aims to cement its position in the cryptocurrency trading space while it eyes market share of competing brokers such as Block’s Cash App, which has allowed withdrawals for years. But while Cash App already supports the Lightning Network, Robinhood’s plans to integrate Bitcoin’s second-layer network, sketched out in April at Bitcoin 2022, have yet to come to fruition.
Broadly, cryptocurrency brokers are racing to bottom in the fee competition to attract users and encourage ever more platform activity – all in the midst of a widespread cryptocurrency winter.
Last month, Binance.US, the U.S. subsidiary of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, cut its bitcoin trading fee to zero. On Wednesday, Binance announced it would extend that offering globally in commemoration of its fifth anniversary – an even stronger push by the firm led by Chinese billionaire Changpeng Zhao.
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