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Robinhood is down however not out. As soon as the most popular factor in fintech, the buying and selling app’s share worth is at a sickly $9 and its income forecast is dismal, but it surely continues to innovate. The most recent instance is a brand new self-custody crypto pockets, which launched in beta on Tuesday and affords customers a technique to prowl the world of DeFi and Web3 all whereas paying no fuel charges.
The pockets is at the moment out there to solely 10,000 clients who joined a waitlist, however Robinhood’s product workforce gave me a tour of the brand new service on Monday. The pockets has a number of curious options that I’ll describe under, but additionally has a modern and user-friendly design that’s lengthy been one of many firm’s hallmarks. This features a software to entry one’s personal key utilizing iCloud—a characteristic that may horrify some crypto purists, however will likely be deeply appreciated by strange customers.
The place the product—referred to as merely Robinhood Pockets—feels odd is that it’s construct solely on Polygon, the favored Layer 2 service for Ethereum, and doesn’t let the pockets consumer transact on Ethereum itself. This design determination is comprehensible since Polygon is less expensive and sooner than Ethereum, and it’s what permits Robinhood customers to discover Web3 with out fuel charges. But it surely additionally feels limiting, particularly as Robinhood Pockets doesn’t help Bitcoin or Dogecoin or different tokens incompatible with the Polygon community.
In the meantime, Robinhood’s no-fee providing took place because of an association with decentralized alternate 0x that can see the latter facilitate the no-gas-fee buying and selling. The upside is that Robinhood Pockets customers received’t must take care of the clunky technique of buying and spending MATIC tokens (used to pay for fuel on Polygon) however, as soon as once more, the choice to conduct all transactions by a single, designated alternate doesn’t precisely really feel like the total crypto expertise.
If the brand new pockets proves successful, none of this may matter a lot as Robinhood can have succeeded in introducing a few of its thousands and thousands of consumers to one thing resembling a Web3 expertise. But when its constraints make it a flop, Robinhood Pockets will show to be one other expansive distraction for an organization in determined want of a turnaround. It would additionally add grist to rumors that FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, who took a 7.6% stake in Robinhood this summer season, is making ready to gobble up the whole firm.
Jeff John Roberts
[email protected]
@jeffjohnroberts
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