Robinhood rolls out $BTC, $DOGE, $ETH swaps in its crypto wallet

Robinhood has a new crypto wallet update announcing the roll out of Bitcoin ($BTC) and Dogecoin ($DOGE) swaps. The support for in-app Ethereum ($ETH) swaps will be activated soon in the coming weeks too.

The feature is available on Robinhood Wallet, which is different from the financial services company’s app. The Robinhood Wallet app is a multi-chain, self-custody, Web3 wallet which was launched six months ago. Until this recent update, the app was restricted to crypto trading without deposits and withdrawals.

The wallet enjoys rising adoption globally and has thousands of users spread across more than 140 countries. Taking user feedback seriously, it has extended support to other blockchains besides Ethereum like the Dogecoin, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism networks.

As per the official press release, Robinhood Wallet has decided to launch several of the most requested features from their user base. This includes custody, sending and receiving of $BTC and $DOGE, which was launched on 30 August.

Along with this, it has also enabled in-app swaps on the Ethereum network, which is now currently available to select users for 200+ tokens. This feature is scheduled to become available to everyone in the coming weeks.

Thanks to this new feature, users will be able to swap without holding the token, unlike the other existing wallets. Network fees will be automatically deducted from the tokens that they already hold, which would efficiently make it easier for everyone to get started on using DeFi. Talking about the same, GM of Robinhood Crypto, Johann Kerbrat said-

“With Robinhood Wallet we stripped away many of the complexities of DeFi and the broader Web3 ecosystem, and reduced some of the challenges and barriers to entry for everyday people. We’ve been really encouraged by the adoption so far, and are excited to keep building for our customers around the world as we ship new features and expand support for new networks and tokens.”

At the start of the week, Robinhood was in the news for climbing up as the third-largest Bitcoin holder. It was observed that the company had transferred some 118,300 Bitcoin to a wallet from several other smaller wallets over a three-month period.

Holding over $3 billion in $BTC in a single wallet, data from Arkham Intelligence showed that Robinhood is now just behind crypto exchanges Binance and Bitfinex. While the former holds $6.4 billion, the latter has $4.3 billion worth of tokens in single wallets.

The recent announcement also laid out other notable additions that have been made to the Robinhood Wallet since March. This includes the launch of a Web3 browser that allows users to connect to dApps (decentralised applications) directly from their wallet.

Starting off with the support of custody, sending, and receiving for Polygon and Ethereum, the wallet has now become multichain, broadening the access to other low-cost, fast, and secure Layer 2 chains like Arbitrum and Optimism, and now Bitcoin and Dogecoin.

It has also has onboarded a Fiat Onramp, opening doors to eligible users in the United States to directly purchase or transfer crypto on Robinhood Wallet using Robinhood Connect. The app’s reward program has also included learning rewards, which allows eligible users to complete short lessons to earn $USDC.

The team has also assured its users of high security and privacy, which remains its top priority as it launches several new features. It has added a number of tools to help customers secure their Wallet, like setting up either face/touch ID or a custom PIN, which they’ll use to authenticate every time they open the app.

When users are getting started, they will be asked to create a secret recovery phrase too. Also known as a seed phrase, this feature allows them access to their wallet and crypto securely.