Robinhood is Working on an NFT-Friendly Wallet

Credit: Reuters

NFT fans could soon store their digital collectibles in a crypto wallet designed by the investing app Robinhood. 

At the 2022 Permissionless Conference, Robinhood executives announced they are working on a standalone NFT-compatible crypto wallet. In addition to storing NFTs, this new software wallet will link with many popular Web3 sites to help users interact with dozens of crypto ecosystems.  

There aren’t official details on what blockchains Robinhood’s new wallet will support. However, the company hinted it would hold more tokens than those currently available on its central trading app.   

Although Robinhood says its software wallet will be for “advanced” crypto traders, it also says it’s working on a user-friendly design. Initial reports suggest Robinhood’s Web3 wallet will mimic other popular options like MetaMask and the Coinbase Wallet. 

Robinhood also says its new Web3 wallet will feature its famous “no-fee” trading experience. When asked how Robinhood would achieve this goal, Crypto CTO Johann Kerbrat said the company was working with “liquidity partners” to offer competitive rates. 

Although Robinhood already offers a crypto wallet to its customers, this current option doesn’t give users their private keys. By contrast, the upcoming Robinhood Web3 wallet will provide users with complete control over their digital tokens. 

There’s no official release date for Robinhood’s upcoming wallet, but current Robinhood users could sign up for a waitlist. At the latest, the company hopes to release its NFT wallet by the end of 2022. 

Robinhood Becomes Increasingly Crypto-Friendly

When Robinhood launched in 2013, it was primarily known for its commission-free stock trading. Although Robinhood still offers equities to its users, it has entered the cryptocurrency space in a significant way. 

In fact, most of Robinhood’s profits in previous years came from its cryptocurrency trading suite. Q2 financial reports released in August of 2021 suggested crypto trading accounted for 50 percent of Robinhood’s total revenue. 

Even more impressive, over 60 percent of Robinhood’s Q2 crypto revenue came from the meme coin Dogecoin. Some reports now suggest Robinhood holds about 33 percent of Dogecoin’s circulating supply. 

While DOGE certainly helped Robinhood take center stage in the crypto sphere, it appears this company wants to become a serious player in Web3. Shortly before announcing its upcoming NFT wallet, FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried bought 7.6 percent of Robinhood’s shares. 

There are many questions surrounding what this FTX partnership will mean for Robinhood. However, some reporters believe the centralized crypto exchange wants to use Robinhood’s brokerage service to offer its clients access to equities.

In fact, the FTX.US division recently said it would roll out a stock and ETF trading portal for pre-screened US customers. It’s unknown how much Robinhood is contributing to this new service.

With all of these recent developments, it’s clear Robinhood will continue to make headlines in the cryptocurrency industry.