Robinhood adds USDC to crypto listings
Important takeaways
- Trading platform Robinhood adds USDC stablecoin to its list of supported cryptocurrency assets.
- Robinhood currently supports 18 other cryptoassets, but USDC is the first supported stablecoin.
- Robinhood and Circle executives will discuss the news further at San Francisco’s Converge22 event.
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Trading platform Robinhood adds USD Coin (USDC) to its range of tradable assets.
Robinhood introduces USDC
Robinhood customers will soon have access to USDC.
According to a chirping from the company, USDC will be available for transfer via both Polygon and Ethereum. The asset will be available from September 21.
Robinhood has not provided a full statement on the addition of USDC. However, the company’s crypto CTO, Johann Kerbrat, stated that he will discuss the matter further next week during the Converge22 conference in San Francisco. There, Kerbrat says that he wants to “talk about what [USDC] means for Robinhood, and what’s to come.”
Meanwhile, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire wrote: “This is so good! Congratulations… and a big win for the USDC to reach in [the] mainstream.” He hinted that Circle would also attend Converge22 to “dive in” to the topic.
These statements may indicate that Robinhood may engage more deeply with USDC than it does with other crypto assets. However, Robinhood’s USDC information page does not suggest anything out of the ordinary. This page explains that Robinhood “facilitates USDC purchases and redemptions from Circle” but does not issue USDC or hold USDC reserves.
Further, the site states that Robinhood “has no obligation to repurchase USDC for USD.” This responsibility presumably falls on USDC issuer Circle.
Robinhood currently supports 18 other cryptocurrencies, including major assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
USDC is the first stablecoin that Robinhood will support as a tradable asset. However, the company also provides real-time data for two other stablecoins: USDT and DAI.
Robinhood has gradually expanded its crypto offerings over the past few years. The company has been supporting crypto trading since 2018, but didn’t start allowing crypto withdrawals until recently. It is now introducing a non-custodial wallet to give customers more direct control over their crypto.
In a recent earnings call, CEO Vlad Tenev said the company is working to expand its crypto listings, noting that “customers are telling us they want us to introduce more coins.”
Despite growing support for cryptocurrency, the company is also downsizing. It laid off a significant portion of its staff this summer due to a downturn in the crypto market.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH and other cryptocurrencies.
