Crypto trading firm Robinhood announces plans to expand to the UK

Robinhood, a crypto-currency trading app from the US, became quite well-known ever since it introduced zero-fees trading. The move sparked a trend that countless other crypto exchanges decided to follow in order to keep their customers and attract new ones.

Apart from trading itself, the app also allows investors to open trading accounts, buy numerous products, such as ETFs, stock, and of course — cryptocurrencies. All of it can be done with no fees, from a smartphone, at any time and any place.

Now, the app wishes to expand and offer the same deal to UK users. It currently already has around 60,000 members in the UK market, according to some estimates, since it started signups in November 2019.

Many assume that it might have the same impact in the UK that it had in the US, in which case, it will be a major game-changer in the country.

Robinhood’s conquest of the US and the UK

Robinhood was originally launched back in 2015 when it completely changed the landscape for online brokerages. Prior to the app’s launch, all online brokers had hefty fees, but Robinhood’s arrival forced everyone else to drop the fees simply in order to remain in the game. As a result, brokers also had to come up with innovations that would bring new streams of revenue, and make up the lost fees.

Then, in 2018, Robinhood started offering crypto trading, which brought it about a million new accounts. It became extremely popular with Millennials and Gen-Z. Now, 5 years after its launch, its value is estimated at $7.6 billion, all thanks to its disruptive approach and innovative techniques, which is quite an achievement in an extremely conservative financial industry.

The financial industry has already suffered heavy blows from the likes of Bitcoin, and then competitors like Robinhood and Venmo emerged, causing the banks and investment firms to rethink their entire business plans. Many have tried to resist, which somewhat slowed down the process of innovating the financial sector, but the changes are still coming, one step at a time. Now, Robinhood is moving to the UK, and with London being one of the biggest international finance centres — like New York City is for the US — the app has excellent chances of disrupting the UK market as well.