Popular mobile stock trading app Robinhood has recently announced that its commission-free Bitcoin and Ethereum trading service is now available in the US states of Wisconsin and New Mexico.
The stock trading company has stated that it will be offering commission-free trading those state’s residents, while allowing them to monitor various other cryptocurrencies, including NEO, Monero, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, and Ripple. As covered, Robinhood has been rolling out its Robinhood Crypto service to US residents on a state-by-state basis from February onwards. Last month, it expanded to Colorado.
Robinhood Crypto is coming in hot! Commission-free Bitcoin and Ethereum trading is now rolled out and available to investors in New Mexico. pic.twitter.com/aq12aQwcpO
— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) May 3, 2018
According to the company’s Twitter feed and website, its goal is to bring its commission-free trading services to the entirety of the United States. With the inclusion of Wisconsin and New Mexico, Robinhood has exposure to 8 states so far as it was already in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana.
The initiative is being driven by the company’s drive for new investment capital, which is expected to total $350 million. The investment is being brought forward by the Russian firm, DST Global, who is working with Robinhood to finalize the deal.
With this new wave of capital funding, Robinhood’s valuation has far exceeded that of last year; reaching $5.6bn, more than quadrupling its value of $1.3bn in April of last year. While its daily active user base increased from 3 to 4 million.
The company makes money not by charging purchase/sale commissions, but by collecting interest on the funds it holds on customers’ behalf. It also charges an optional $6 a month service to users who wish to engage in after-hours stock trading.
In the crypto space, Robinhood competes with Coinbase, a company with over 13 million users as of late November 2017, and Square’s Cash app, a company who made $200,000 thanks to bitcoin trading in the first quarter of this year.