UK Banking App Revolut Adds Ripple and Bitcoin Cash Trading

| Updated
by Darya Rudz · 3 min read

The UK-based fintech startup Revolut, creator of the first app allowing customers to invest in Bitcoin, has announced adding Ripple (XRP) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) for trading.

Revolut, London-based fintech startup that created the first app allowing customers to invest in Bitcoin, is adding Bitcoin Cash and Ripple to its cryptocurrency feature.

Revolut is the UK-based payments company which uses investments to further expand its operations and allow users to purchase and sell digital currency. Founded in 2015 by former institutional trader Nikolay Storonsky, it is a digital banking alternative that includes a pre-paid debit card, currency exchange, cryptocurrency exchange and peer-to-peer payments.

Last December, Revolut became the first banking app to let customers invest in Bitcoin. Now Revolut will offer them the chance to buy Ripple and Bitcoin Cash as well.

Ripple and Bitcoin Cash are the third and fourth most popular cryptocurrencies by market value. Among cryptocurrencies that have already been made available for clients to trade within the app are bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum.

“We’ve been asking the Revolut community which cryptocurrencies they would like to see next, and the demand for both XRP and Bitcoin Cash has been absolutely overwhelming,” said Vlad Yatsenko, Revolut chief technology officer.

According to the company, the decision to include Bitcoin Cash and XRP was made because “other major cryptocurrency exchanges are yet to support these digital currencies”.

“After months of negotiation and development work, we’re incredibly excited to offer exposure to these two digital currencies to the UK market,” Vlad Yatsenko said.

A fee for cryptocurrency transactions makes up 1.5%. In comparison with a traditional cryptocurrency exchange, you can’t send or receive cryptocurrencies from your Revolut account. All you can do is buy tokens in the app. If you want to transfer those tokens somewhere else, you’ll have to sell them for USD, GBP, etc. and then buy cryptocurrencies on a traditional exchange using your fiat money.

Revolut conducts over 100,000 cryptocurrency transactions per day. Recently, the startup added a new feature called Vaults. With the feature, Revolut users can set up a vault to save money over time. You can round up your spare change every time you make a transaction.  You can also set up recurring payments to set aside a bit of money daily, weekly or monthly. Moreover, you get to choose the currency of your vault, which is a good way to hedge against the volatility of cryptocurrencies.

More than 50,000 of Revolut’s customers signed up to the feature. However, they don’t earn interests on vaults. This feature is just a way to set some money aside that doesn’t appear in your main Revolut account.

Revolut has extensive plans for growth. The company wants to bulk up its engineering and design staff in order to expand into the United States, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand this year.

“By expanding overseas, we will be empowering millions of people to take control over their financial lives, and in the process, we will be reducing the cost of international transfers by partnering with the best players in the financial world,” Revolut said.

Altcoin News, Bitcoin News, Cryptocurrency News, Editor's Choice, News