Ever since the stock trading app Robinhood added crypto trading in 2018, they’ve stated that the ability to transfer funds to an external wallet was coming “soon.” Well, it looks like “soon” is now actually, um, soon. Earlier this week, the company announced that wallets were indeed coming while also opening a waitlist of interested customers.
Judging by my experience, there are certainly a number of people excited about this oft-requested feature. When I joined the list not two hours after it went live, I was already #244,000-something on the list. I’ve since fallen to #256,944 since inviting friends to the app helps you move up in line. It’s currently unclear how quickly Robinhood will roll out wallets to customers, but they do note that the first users should see the update next month.
So what exactly does it mean for Robinhood to offer crypto wallets? Well, previously, the platform allowed users to buy select cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and (famously) Dogecoin among others. However, these assets were traded in a remarkably similar fashion to stocks as customers would buy coins with fiat currency and sell them for fiat currency. This meant that you couldn’t really use the crypto you purchased as intended since you couldn’t directly spend it and had no way to transfer it.
Now — or at least once this feature is released — users will be able to transfer their purchased coins to other wallets and platforms. Alternatively, customers will also have the ability to receive coins to their Robinhood account. For me personally, I have a couple of specific uses that I think this will be helpful for. First, I’ll soon have the option of moving some of my Bitcoin from Robinhood over to BlockFi in order to earn interest on my holdings. Meanwhile, when I meet the cash-out limit on Fold, I could send my Sats to Robinhood for easy sale/conversion to fiat.
Considering what a large part of Robinhood’s business that crypto has become, it’s really no surprise that they finally got around to building a wallet product. And, although my feelings on Robinhood are still fairly mixed given what the past few months have brought, I still think the platform is one of the easiest and most intuitive investment platforms available. Thus, while a strong contingent of Robinhood users may now want to move their crypto off-platform using this feature, I could honestly see a good number importing their holdings from other apps in a bid to potentially gain greater liquidity. Of course, this could also mean some panic pivots between stocks and crypto, but that’s a topic for another day. On the whole, I’m looking forward to seeing what Robinhood’s crypto wallets look like — once I make my way through this massive waitlist.