US based stock trading application ready to launch the Robinhood crypto wallet feature to its 2 million users. In a Bitcoin conference that is held in Miami on Thursday (07.04.2022), The Chief Product Officer of Robinhood, Aparna Chennapragada announced that users who have signed up for the WenWallets waitlist that includes the Robinhood crypto wallet waitlist will be available to receive and send any of the digital currencies that are presently available on the crypto exchange through their Robinhood crypto wallet address.
Robinhood Crypto Wallet: HOOD’s Crypto Shift
WenWallet is a digital currency wallet that was released by Robinhood Finance in September last year. Crypto wallets enable users to store their digital currencies safely. Presently, there are 16 digital currencies that are available to trade on the Robinhood app that include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Ripple, Litecoin, Stellar, Monero, and many more.
As per Aparna Chennapragada, users will have complete access to operate their crypto for tipping on social media, purchasing NFTs, and many more. A blog post by Robinhood states that there are no charges to withdraw crypto from Robinhood. Vlad Tenev, CEO and co-founder of Robinhood said,
“Our goal is to make Robinhood the most trusted and easiest to use crypto platform. We’re excited to bring even lower costs to our customers by integrating with the Lightning network.”
Users will be able to scan their QR codes to conveniently send crypto to a wallet address. In the era of increasing crypto scams, the entity stated that its improved fraud protection and security mechanisms will involve mandatory 2FA (Two-factor authentication) to help protect the crypto and address validation of the customer for most wallet addresses so other users can make sure they are sending to a valid wallet address. The Robinhood crypto wallet beta was rolled out in January this year as a test to nearly 1000 users. After the test’s success, it is finally here in the market.
Network and gas fees, which is a transaction fees paid by users to use a blockchain, will be used on top of all requested transfers for ease. Along with that, users will be able to check the anticipated dollar value of the crypto, before they send it.
In a bid to decrease the carbon footprint of the digital currency transactions, Robinhood is adding Lightning Network Bitcoin transfers. For those who do not know, Lightning Network Bitcoin transfers decrease the carbon footprint of the transaction as BTC miners are not required for validating any transactions. As per the company blog post on the Robinhood crypto wallet,
“Because these transactions occur “off-chain,” Lightning network transactions occur in a matter of seconds vs. minutes and for pennies vs. dollars, saving customers time and money. Network fees will vary based on demand in the Bitcoin network.”
Robinhood Crypto Wallet: Limitations
Still, the Robinhood crypto wallet falls short of true operations. It cannot plug into Ethereum-based services such as MetaMask does. This Robinhood crypto wallet cannot accept ERC-20 tokens, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), or any asset outside the trading list of Robinhood. Tokens developed by airdrops and forks will not work either. A FAQ page read,
“Any NFTs sent to a Robinhood Ethereum address may be lost and unrecoverable.”
Staking also seems to be off-limits as of now. Tenev has previously admitted the desire of his customers for the yield-earning option and said during last quarter’s earnings call that this company was investing in the required tech. A staking service option would have to be “compliant,” he stated.
Users will not be charged for moving their cryptos that are based in this exchange to the Robinhood crypto wallet that has such potential. The company said it will apply anticipated gas fees but not withdrawal fees to requested outbound can be transferred.
There is a $5,000 regular cap on outbound transfers and newly obtained crypto remains put until the transaction settles, the web page noted. Further, users must undergo identity verification and allow two-factor authentication to avail of the wallet. You can consider this as a Robinhood crypto wallet review as well.
Wrapping Up
Robinhood Financial finally launched the first Robinhood crypto wallet on Thursday, offering access to over 2 million users that were on a waiting list for this product. This announcement was made by the Chief Product Officer, Aparna Chennapragada as a part of the Bitcoin 2022 Conference that is held in Miami this year. In an interview, she even said that this product shows the commitment of the company toward the crypto space.
