In brief
- Revolut initially launched in the states back in March, but until today only offered fiat banking services.
- Now, customers in 49 states can purchase, store, and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum through the Revolut app.
- Cryptocurrency stored in the Revolut app currently can't be sent to external wallet.
British challenger bank Revolut has just expanded its cryptocurrency services to the US. The fintech startup, which launched in the US back in March, has partnered with New York-based financial infrastructure provider Paxos to make this happen.
By using Paxos' recently announced plug and play brokerage service, Revolut is now also able to offer cryptocurrency trading services in the states, without having to tackle the regulatory and technological hurdles that cryptocurrency exchanges face on its own. Instead, Paxos will handle the regulatory matters, since the US trust company acts as the cryptocurrency custodian for Revolut.
"In order to expand our crypto offering to US customers, we had to find a trusted partner. We chose Paxos Crypto Brokerage because their turn key solution is fully compliant and easy to integrate," said Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky, speaking to Mashable.
Although Revolut has been available in the US since March, up until now, customers were only able to access Revolut's fiat products through the app—which is currently available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Through the Revolut app, users are now able to convert 28 different fiat currencies into Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) with the push of the button. They'll also be able to opt-in to real-time price alerts for their chosen digital assets, helping users keep on top of the value of their portfolio. Cryptocurrency buy and sell features are currently available in 49 out of 50 US states, with Tennessee being the only exclusion.
Revolut also allows customers to automatically round up their payments to the nearest dollar and convert the spare change into cryptocurrency. But US users are currently unable to move their cryptocurrency funds to an external wallet.
The company has plans to expand the range of cryptocurrencies made available through the app in the "near future", with Bitcoin Cash (BCH), XRP, and Litecoin (LTC) likely poised to be added next, since these are already available to EU users.
This expansion comes just two months after employees were reportedly told to willingly leave the company, or be fired instead due to coronavirus-related struggles.