The announcement of “Robinhood Connect” was made at Consensus 2023 on April 27. The service serves as a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp with support for self-custody wallets and decentralized applications (Dapps).
Introducing our latest investment in crypto, Robinhood Connect: https://t.co/SmENSYufBA
A low-cost, on-ramp for customers, and a seamless integration for developers. Learn more: pic.twitter.com/6uSIAJkudO
— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) April 27, 2023
Robinhood Connect is positioned as a competitor to similar services such as Coinbase Pay and MoonPay. With Robinhood Connect, users can directly purchase and sell cryptocurrency from their self-custody wallet or in Dapps using a debit or credit card. The service integrates with Web3 projects, enabling developers to embed the service directly into applications. This allows customers to conduct transactions natively in Dapps without having to separately log in to the Robinhood website or app.
Robinhood Connect is currently only available in the MyDoge, Giddy, and Slingshot ecosystems with plans to support Exodus and Phantom ecosystems in the future. Johann Kerbrat, general manager of Robinhood Crypto, stated in a company blog post that the service was developed to bring more people into the cryptocurrency space.
“Crypto and Web3 have the potential to change the future of the financial system for the better, but we recognize there are still significant hurdles preventing broader adoption.”
Although the market for fiat-to-crypto services isn’t crowded, Robinhood is one of the only companies associated with traditional finance to enter the space. Robinhood claims to have 23 million total user accounts and $74.7 billion in assets under custody.
Robinhood also introduced several changes to the Robinhood app with the launch of Robinhood Connect, such as the ability to conduct advanced orders through stop orders and stop limit orders. A few months prior to the launch, Robinhood introduced its branded self-custody wallet on the iOS App Store.
Related: Robinhood board gives nod to buy Sam Bankman-Fried’s $578M stake
