Robinhood, the funding platform, introduced on Wednesday, Aug. 30, that it has expanded the capabilities of its web3 pockets to incorporate assist for Bitcoin(BTC) and Dogecoin(DOGE) networks.
Initially launched in September 2022 for a restricted set of iOS customers, the Robinhood Pockets was constructed on the Polygon blockchain, and as of March this 12 months, it grew to become accessible to iOS customers in 130 international locations.
The current adjustments come after Robinhood mentioned it had heard from its customers that there was a powerful need for extra crypto and blockchain networks to be added to its pockets choices.
The preliminary model of the Robinhood Pockets supported Polygon(POL) and Ethereum(ETH), with subsequent updates including assist for layer-2 options comparable to Arbitrum and Optimism.
The latest replace provides Bitcoin and Dogecoin to this listing, permitting customers to custody, ship, and obtain cryptocurrencies on these networks. This diversifies the pockets’s capabilities, providing customers extra choices in how they handle their digital belongings.
Moreover, Robinhood has enabled in-app swaps on Ethereum. This function is obtainable initially to a choose group of customers and is deliberate to be rolled out extra extensively within the coming weeks.
It’s going to assist greater than 200 tokens, which is an enhancement from the earlier providing that allowed swaps solely on Polygon by way of a decentralized change (DEX) aggregator generally known as 0x API.
One notable replace on the Robinhood Pockets its capacity to execute swaps with out the necessity for customers to carry ETH. The community charges for such transactions are mechanically deducted from the tokens customers maintain, a design selection aimed toward simplifying consumer expertise.
Johann Kerbrat, the final supervisor of Robinhood Crypto, mentioned the up to date pockets goals to “strip away lots of the complexities of decentralized finance (defi) and the broader web3 ecosystem” to make it extra accessible for on a regular basis customers.
Whereas responding to suggestions from customers who needed extra choices in crypto administration, Robinhood mentioned it’s “actively working to broaden entry to different low-cost, quick and safe layer-2 chains.” These updates replicate Robinhood’s deal with increasing and diversifying its crypto choices to fulfill consumer wants.
In April, Robinhood Join, a function that allows sure US customers to purchase and switch crypto to and from their web3 wallets.