Futu set to offer crypto services in the US, Singapore, and Hong Kong

Futu Holdings Ltd., a rapidly growing crypto brokerage firm in China, is planning to offer crypto trading to international clients before the end of the year. The company unveiled this news during its Q1 earnings call on May 20, with its Senior Vice President Robin Li Xu, disclosing that the firm has already started applying for crypto-related licenses in the US, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

While the company, which rivals crypto trading platform Robinhood, did not disclose the nature of crypto services it aims to offer, it noted that the feature will be available in the second half of this year.

While Xu shied away from disclosing further details about the upcoming plans, he said,

Explaining why it had excluded mainland China, the company said the National Internet Finance Association of China, the China Banking Association, and the Payment and Clearing Association of China reaffirmed that cryptos are still banned in mainland China two days before this announcement.

While more jurisdictions are warming up to cryptos, the Chinese regulators explained,

Futu set to meet stiff competition from Robinhood

While getting into crypto will help Futu boost its revenue and a competitive edge against Robinhood, Robinhood is also striving to introduce features that will help boost its revenue, especially now that the crypto market continues performing poorly. For instance, the crypto trading platform announced a promo, in which it sought $50,000.00 in free credits. Through this promo, the company sought to entice crypto traders to stay active despite the market crash.

On top of this, Robinhood is following in Coinbase’s footsteps, seeing as it is planning to go public. Reportedly, the company plans to reveal its IPO filings as early as next week.