Robinhood Crypto Trading App Launches in New York

Cryptocurrency trading firm Robinhood on May 23, 2019, announced that it had launched its zero-fee crypto trading app in New York.

Robinhood Enters New York

After bagging the coveted BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYFDS) in January 2019, Robinhood has now announced that its users in New York will be able to use its zero-commission crypto trading services via the Robinhood Crypto app.

With New York added, the total number of states in the U.

S. with Robinhood’s presence now sits at 39. Some major states where Robinhood provides its services include Florida, California, and Washington, among others.

The digital currency trading app currently allows users to trade in seven cryptocurrencies including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), and bitcoin cash (BCH.) The blog post adds that users can track the price of a total of 17 cryptocurrencies through the Robinhood Crypto app.

The launch of services in New York implies that Robinhood did their regulatory homework well, as historically, the New York regulator hasn’t exactly been easy towards cryptocurrency businesses.

As reported by BTCManager on April 11, 2019, the regulator had rejected crypto exchange Bittrex’s application for BitLicense stating that it had below-par Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures.

The increasing number of crimes and exchange hacks in the cryptocurrency industry has become a serious cause of concern for regulatory bodies. Hence, it only makes sense for them to have the strictest of criteria in place for cryptocurrency business ventures. This is evident from the fact that bitcoin futures platform Bakkt is yet to receive the regulatory approval from the U.

S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) despite it being one of the most high-profile ventures in the space with support from the Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft, and Starbucks.

Robinhood Looks to Increase its Business

The California-based trading firm has achieved some remarkable milestones in the first five months of 2019 which speak of its grit to capture as much market share as it can in the emerging crypto ecosystem.

On April 24, 2019, BTCManager reported that Robinhood had applied for a national bank charter with the Office of Comptroller of the Currency.

Similarly, the firm also made its first ever acquisition in March 2019 when it acquired media company MarketSnacks.