The launch of “Robinhood Connect,” a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp featuring support for decentralized applications (DApps) and self-custody wallets, was announced at Consensus 2023 on April 27.
Introducing our latest investment in crypto, Robinhood Connect: https://t.co/SmENSYufBA
A low-cost, on-ramp for customers, and a seamless integration for developers. Learn more: https://t.co/rnBnR0LYww pic.twitter.com/6uSIAJkudO
— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) April 27, 2023
Positioned as a competitor to similar services such as Coinbase Pay and MoonPay, Robinhood Connect essentially allows users to purchase and sell cryptocurrency directly to and from their self-custody wallet or natively in DApps using a credit or debit card.
Robinhood Connect features integration with Web3 projects, as developers can embed the service directly into applications. This allows customers to access their Robinhood credentials natively in DApps without having to open the Robinhood website or app separately to log in and conduct transactions.
Currently, the service is only available in the MyDoge, Giddy and Slingshot ecosystems, but upcoming support for Exodus and Phantom has been announced.
Johann Kerbrat, general manager of Robinhood Crypto, explained in a company blog post that the service was developed in hopes of bringing more people into the cryptocurrency space:
“Crypto and Web3 have the potential to change the future of the financial system for the better, but we recognize there are still significant hurdles preventing broader adoption.”
The market for fiat-to-crypto services such as Robinhood Connect isn’t exactly crowded, but Robinhood represents one of the only companies associated with traditional finance to enter the space.
As of January 2023, Robinhood claims to have 23 million total user accounts and $74.7 billion in assets under custody. This is significantly lower than Coinbase’s claimed 110 million verified users, but the asset count remains similar (Coinbase says it holds $80 billion in on-platform assets). For comparison, rival companies MoonPay and Webull have an estimated five and 13 million users, respectively.
Along with the launch of Robinhood Connect, the company also announced several changes to the Robinhood app, such as the ability to conduct advanced orders via stop orders and stop limit orders.
Related: Robinhood board gives nod to buy Sam Bankman-Fried’s $578M stake
The new service and app upgrades come just a couple of months after the launch of Robinhood’s own branded self-custody wallet on the iOS App Store, which currently has a 3.9-star rating and ranks No. 144 in downloads for the finance category.
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