Digital bank Revolut allows its 7 million customers to purchase cryptocurrencies. This, as reserve banks across the globe have announced huge stimulus packages to support their struggling economies, following the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
This support from Revolut, which is notably one of Europe’s most prominent Fintech firms, could potentially lead to the mainstream adoption of major crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC). This, at a time when traditional capital markets are suffering due to an economic crisis created by a major slowdown of business activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bitcoin could potentially serve as a hedge against expected inflation or at least as an alternative asset during these challenging times. However, the leading digital currency’s price did fall by over 50% between March 12 and March 13, 2020 because of concerns about the global economy due to the Coronavirus crisis.
In order to support struggling businesses, the European Central Bank (ECB) has committed €750 billion worth of bond-buying. The institution might increase this amount if needed. Meanwhile, the Bank of England (BoE) and the US Federal Reserve have confirmed that they’ll purchase an unlimited amount of debt, in order to fund government relief programs in response to COVID-19.
This arguably poses a significant inflationary threat, which could affect individual consumers as it would reduce their purchasing power and negatively impact their retirement and savings plans.
In order to provide an alternative to the traditional forms of investment, Revolut is now offering cryptocurrency trading to all of its customers.
The UK-based Fintech company notes that digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) may serve as an “alternative to real money during the times of quantitative easing and currency devaluation following the 2008 financial crisis.” The neobank pointed out that this is “happening again right now” due to the economic uncertainty resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic.
Revolut has allowed its premium account holders to trade Bitcoin, Ether and Litecoin (LTC) since 2017. The bank had been planning to provide this option to its standard customers this year.
Revolut now says that it’s now a good time “to explore different ways of diversifying.”
The digital bank recently began allowing it customers to purchase gold.