Robinhood shares jump after announcement of cryptocurrency wallets

By: Will F.

Robinhood shares jumped more than 6 percent Wednesday morning after the no-fee trading app announced that it will launch cryptocurrency wallets – allowing users to trade, send and receive digital currencies, as well as move them in and out of the app.

The company said it will roll out the feature to select users next month as part of a test.

Robinhood has long let users trade seven different cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic and Litecoin.

But the rollout of the wallet feature will let people actually stake ownership of the digital asset rather than just trade on the price of the coin.

“The world of Crypto may seem mysterious, complicated and unwelcoming, but it was born out of a mission to return power to the people, which aligns perfectly with our mission to democratize finance for all,” the company said in a blog post.

“At Robinhood, we’re working to make the world of crypto easier to understand by giving you the right tools so you can participate at your own pace.”

Shares of Robinhood lost some steam in morning trading and were last seen more than 3 percent higher.

It’s Robinhood’s latest step deeper into a burgeoning market that’s proven to be a huge money maker for the newly public company.

Crypto trading made up an eye-popping 52 percent of Robinhood’s transaction-based revenue last quarter, the company announced a month ago, up from just 3 percent a year earlier.

And trades of the meme-inspire crypto Dogecoin made up nearly 26 percent of the company’s total revenue in its most recent quarter.

The announcement comes amid continued volatility in the crypto sector.

The price of Bitcoin is down more than 10 percent this week amid a broader sell-off in stocks and other digital currencies over fears sparked by the potential collapse of heavily-indebted Chinese developer Evergrande Group.

Bitcoin was last seen trading hands at just over $42,400 per coin, according to data from Coinbase.

Other cryptos, including Ethereum and Cardano were also lower for the week after a brief rally earlier in September.