Robinhood Is Diving Into Web3 And An NFT Platform Is Coming: Here Are The Details

Stock and crypto trading platform Robinhood Markets HOOD said Tuesday it will venture into the world of Web3 with new wallet features and a launch of non-fungible token trading.

What Happened: Robinhood announced the introduction of non-custodial, web3 wallets. The new wallets will allow customers the ability to have “total control of their crypto” and also access other crypto features.

The new Robinhood wallet will be a standalone app and will give customers their own keys for their crypto and will also have these features:

• Trade and swap crypto with no network fees
• Store NFTs and connect to NFT marketplaces
• Earn yield using their assets
• Access a variety of crypto assets

“At Robinhood, we believe that crypto is more than just an asset class. By offering the same low cost and great design that people have come to expect from Robinhood, our web3 wallet will make it easier for everyone to hold their own keys and experience all the opportunities that the open financial system has to offer,” CEO Vlad Tenev said.

Customers can sign up for the company’s wallet waitlist now. The product is expected to roll out later this summer to waitlist customers and become available to all customers later this year.

Related Link: How To Buy NFTs 

Why It’s Important: The introduction of the new wallets adds to the features offered by Robinhood and could strengthen its position and brand in the cryptocurrency trading market.

“We talked to a lot of people (who said) ‘you start with a certain amount of money and once you get the NFT or asset you want, you have 50% less money because of transaction fees’,” Robinhood’s Crypto CTO Johann Kerbrat told Decrypt.

Kerbrat said Robinhood will partner with liquidity partners to get better pricing. “A lot of people are staying outside of Web3 because of the cost,” he added.

Robinhood’s new wallet could compete with MetaMask and Coinbase Global COIN.

The news of a web3 wallet and further push into cryptocurrency comes after it was recently revealed FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried took a 7.6% stake in Robinhood.

Robinhood ended the recent first quarter with 22.8 million funded accounts and 15.9 million monthly active users. Adding additional crypto features could help enhance the customer numbers and also help with churn.

HOOD Price Action: Robinhood shares are down 1% to $10.06 on Tuesday.