Earlier this year, the fee-free stock trading app Robinhood announced it was getting into the world of cryptocurrency. Robinhood Crypto started rolling out to users in certain states with the ability to buy and sell both Bitcoin and Ethereum while also being able to monitor the price of other coins via your watchlist. In promoting its new offering, the app also said that it was working to make other currencies available for trading as well. Now, just a few months later, Robinhood is making good on that promise by adding Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash to their platform.
First, if you’re new to cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is actually a separate coin from the more well-known Bitcoin (BTC) and was formed as the result of a “hard fork” of the latter. Although it may be no match for its parent coin at the moment, Bitcoin Cash still boasts the fourth largest market cap of any cryptocurrency. Meanwhile Litecoin currently comes in sixth place on that list behind EOS.
Getting back to Robinhood, what’s great about their Robinhood Crypto feature is that the app doesn’t charge any fees to buy or sell currency. Additionally, the app allows you to place limit orders where you set the price you’re willing to pay and have Robinhood make the trade if your terms are met. Since converting tiny fractions of a Bitcoin can also be confusing, Robinhood Crypto also makes it easy to ensure you’re purchasing the amount you want by displaying your position in U.S. dollars.
With that said, there is currently one sizeable downside to Robinhood Crypto. As of right now, Robinhood doesn’t offer the ability to transfer your coins to another crypto wallet nor can you receive coins to your Robinhood account. Instead, your only option for taking your money off of the app is to sell your crypto positions for fiat currency. This is a problem Robinhood says it’s working to fix, but this may be a dealbreaker for some.
Overall, it’s exciting to see Robinhood Crypto and, in turn, Robinhood itself expanding. As I’ve said before, I’ve really enjoyed using the app to test the water of investing, including owning a few dollars worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum. While I’m personally not in any rush to expand my cryptocurrency position, I do appreciate the extra investment options that Robinhood is bringing to the table. With that, hopefully this is just the first of many upgrades to come to the platform — with crypto transfers not too far behind.