- The sign-up list for Robinhood Crypto soared above 1 million just five days after its announcement.
- Robinhood, the brokerage known for its zero-commission stock trading app, said it would enable bitcoin and ethereum trading in February.
Over 1 million people have signed up for early access to Robinhood Crypto, just five days after the California brokerage announced it was crashing the gates of cryptocurrency trading.
Robinhood, which is best known for its zero-commission stock trading app, announced Thursday it would offer bitcoin and ethereum trading in February. Since making the announcement, 1,000,400 people have signed up for the service.
Robinhood is rolling out the new feature in waves, launching first in five states: California, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Montana.
"Crypto is going to change the world and we want to help drive that," Robinhood cofounder Baiju Bhatt told Business Insider in an interview prior to the announcement.
Still, some market-watchers think the milestone indicates a broader bubble in the market for digital coins.
Joe Saluzzi, cofounder of brokerage firm Themis Trading, told Business Insider it shows "a lot of people are trying to get in."
"When any Joe-Schmo can issue a coin and then have a $1 billion market cap, it makes you think there's a bubble," he added.
Robinhood would be one of the first non-crypto companies to try to break into the cryptocurrency trading market, which is known for outages, high-fees, and long periods of downtime. Bhatt said the company is prepared to onboard new clients and handle volumes. Here's Bhatt:
"Today our business transacts 10,000 different symbols in equities and ETFs. We see millions of trades a day. In our brokerage industry there is no excuse for down time. We plan on bringing that mind-set to the crypto space. We don't view any of that stuff as acceptable."
From a business standpoint, Bhatt said the move is a customer acquisition play. The firm has already racked up over 3 million users. Bhatt sees cryptocurrency bringing that number to new heights.
"We are going to break-even on this," he said. "But it could dramatically increase user growth."
Robinhood is valued at $1.3 billion, according to the company, and has raised over $170 million. The firm has declined to comment on its profitability.