Commission-free Trading Platform Robinhood has officially launched its crypto trading services in the state of New York, the firm said in an announcement.
According to the May 23 announcement, the San Francisco-based company has enabled trading with seven digital currencies with additional services for other coins.
Start spreading the news, Robinhood Crypto is officially in New York now. Trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto in New York State.https://t.co/HGyvW8NUk9 pic.twitter.com/K2XfXZukXO
— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) May 23, 2019
“Currently, you can invest in seven Cryptocurrencies on Robinhood Crypto: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, and Dogecoin. You can also track price movements and news for those and 10 additional cryptocurrencies,” the press release noted.
After becoming a mammoth in the stock trading industry, Robinhood jumped in the lucrative crypto trading industry right after the market touched its peak in early 2018. The app maintained a phase-wise rollout strategy and currently offers digital asset trading services in 39 states in the United States including New York, California, and Washington DC.
The odd state to enter
Offering crypto trading services in New York is a bit tricky as it requires the mandatory BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS). This so-called license received some harsh criticism from the crypto community as it drove some of the established trading platforms away from the state, one of the most notable being Kraken.
Robinhood became one of the handfuls of crypto trading platforms that remained in New York after receiving the BitLicense in January this year. Currently, nineteen companies have been granted the license by the DFS, Bitstamp being the most recent one.
Meanwhile, the agency faced some criticism in recent weeks after rejecting the application of Bittrex, citing deficiencies in the exchange’s capital and anti-money laundering requirements, hours after the approval of its rival Bitstamp.
