Key Insights:
- The trading firm wants to let its customers get exposure to decentralized finance.
- The wallet will be launched in Beta this summer and in full by year-end.
- Coinbase also announced DeFi functionality in its mobile app this week.
On May 17, Robinhood (HOOD) announced its new non-custodial, Web3 wallet that will allow customers to have more control over their digital assets. The company added that its new multichain wallet would launch as a standalone app. It will feature a similar design to Robinhood, which simplifies trading functions.
The wallet will be similar to rivals such as MetaMask in that users will be able to hold the keys for their own crypto assets. Similar wallets by crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance put the company in control of the private keys, making them centralized.
It will also offer trading and token swaps with no network fees, nonfungible token (NFT) storage and connection to NFT marketplaces, decentralized finance (DeFi) yield farming, and a variety of supported cryptocurrencies.
The Big Web3 Push
Co-founder and CEO of Robinhood, Vlad Tenev, said that the firm views crypto as more than just an asset class, adding:
“By offering the same low cost and great design that people have come to expect from Robinhood, our web3 wallet will make it easier for everyone to hold their own keys and experience all the opportunities that the open financial system has to offer.”
He added that the product would satisfy the “most advanced DeFi believers” while creating a secure on-ramp for those just starting out in crypto to go deeper into the ecosystem.
Robinhood also plans to cover the network or gas fees which can make token swapping prohibitively expensive at times of peak network demand.
The wallet isn’t available just yet, but there is a waiting list for early access to the Beta program this summer, and the company stated that it would be available to all customers by the end of the year.
Robinhood is best known as an equities trading platform, making its name during the 2021 meme stock trading frenzy. The firm has also done well from cryptocurrency trading during the booming market last year. Company stock remained flat on the day reaching $10.13 during after-hours trading. Shares are down 43% since the beginning of the year, however.
Coinbase DeFi Wallet Unveiled
The Robinhood move comes in the same week that America’s leading crypto exchange, Coinbase (COIN), unveiled its own DeFi app. On May 17, Coinbase announced that it was introducing Web3 and DeFi functionality within its mobile app.
In true Coinbase style, the new service will only initially be available to a handful of users. It will enable Ethereum-based (ETH) Web3 applications within the mobile app. These include NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea, trading on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap (UNI), and borrowing, lending, or swapping through DeFi platforms such as Compound (COMP) and Curve (CRV).