Robinhood is Launching Cryptocurrency Wallets as Digital Assets Become More Popular

American financial services company Robinhood will be launching cryptocurrency wallets as Bitcoin continues to become a bigger part of businesses.

The company is testing the “crypto wallets” with select clients in October which will allow investors to send, receive, and move cryptocurrencies in and out of the Robinhood app.

Some Robinhood users have been giving backlash on social media, complaining that the app gives me exposure to crypto prices but not actual ownership of the coins.

Shares of Robinhood rose 10.9% on Wednesday as Wall Street digested the news.

“We’re not first to the market — we’ve been taking our time to make sure that we build this in a phased approach,” Robinhood chief product officer Aparna Chennapragada told CNBC in a phone interview. “We’ll have a few customers come in, iterate on the product, get the customer feedback and then expand from there.”

Chennapragada said that certain clients will begin testing the product and Robinhood will share their feedback over its blog and Twitter. The chief product officer spent 12 years at Google leading product, engineering and design teams before joining Robinhood. The rollout will eventually allow clients on a waitlist to join.

The new wallets will let Robinhood clients consolidate their digital coins into one account.

Bloomberg News first reported Robinhood’s plan to roll out this feature in a beta version of the trading app.

Robinhood said the crypto wallets will have several safety features including identity verification, multifactor authentication and email and phone verification to keep coins safe from
hackers.

“We are completely aligned with our regulators and the SEC to make sure that we are working on this with educational tools, with protection with safety. That’s great for customers that’s great for us,” Chennapragada said.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.