Today, digital banking challenger Revolut has launched two new cryptocurrencies to its roster: Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ripple (XRP). Users can exchange any of Revolut’s 25 base currencies into the new additions, as well as existing crypto assets Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum.
The news that Bitcoin Cash and Ripple were to go live on Revolut’s platform was broken by AltFi at the beginning of this month, after the cryptocurrencies were announced as the next to be added to the app after massive consumer demand. From today, users can buy, sell and exchange into any of the cryptocurrencies of available, as well as save into ringfenced savings accounts called Vaults via spare change round-ups on transactions.
“We launched this world-first feature in order to offer frictionless exposure of Cryptocurrencies to the mainstream population,” commented Vlad Yatsenko, co-foudner and CTO of Revolut. “The idea of exchanges, private keys and cold storage is a complete turn off for some people, so we wanted to offer a simple way for consumers to get exposure in this area.”
Users who buy cryptocurrencies on Revolut infamously cannot transfer those assets out of Revolut’s coffers, and the ability to sell and trade those coins are limited only to other Revolut users. While this enables Revolut to conduct trades and exchanges much faster than users would be able to on other platforms, it has caused some friction amongst users who feel they would find it difficult to sell off an asset if its market value suddenly dropped (a common occurrence in the world of crypto).
According to the newly-crowned fintech unicorn, 20 per cent of all Revolut users have unlocked the crypto feature so far, which the platform expects to rise now that Bitcoin Cash and Ripple have been added to the mix. Every day, Revolut customers make around 100,000 crypto exchanges via the app.
Yatsenko continued: “We’ve been asking the Revolut community which Cryptocurrencies they would like to see next, and the demand for both XRP and Bitcoin Cash has been absolutely overwhelming. After months of negotiations and development work, we’re incredibly excited to offer exposure to these two digital currencies to the UK market.”
