An Amsterdam-based retail brokerage firm, BUX, announced the soft launch of its service that enables users to trade US shares at no cost, with users who want access to more advanced functionalities paying a small fee for the execution of their transactions.
BUX’s offering is a similar concept to commission-free investing app Robinhood, which also has zero brokerage fees and has reached 13 million users in the US. Robinhood raised this month its latest round of funding, bringing in $280 million at an $8.3 billion valuation.
Recently, the company announced the official launch of BUX Crypto, a platform that allows users to trade Cryptocurrencies commission-free. The platform is currently available to customers in 25 European countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and France.
Many firms are now using cheap or free trading to attract clients to more profitable businesses. For now, they can keep their free platform afloat through making compromises to some business aspects such as not having many physical locations, a small staff for client service, and not spending on massive promotional campaigns.
BUX competes with Robinhood-like offerings in Europe
Earlier in January, BUX acquired Blockport, a European social cryptocurrency investment platform, in a bid to further expand its service offerings. Blockport was rebranded to BUX Crypto and registered with the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) as a cryptocurrency services provider under the BUX brand.
Users were able to access a variety of digital assets, including Bitcoin , Ethereum, and XRP. The company is expected to scale its development team to support their growth as they start to roll-out its product across Europe.
Founded in 2014 by Nick Bortot in Amsterdam, BUX aims to offer European traders Robinhood-style expertise though it has recently brought its brokering in-house. In addition to cryptos, the company also offers commission-free investing that lets users invest in brands and companies they like via its own app.
