Robinhood is down however not out. As soon as the most popular factor in fintech, the buying and selling app’s share worth is at a sickly $9 and its income forecast is dismal, but it surely continues to innovate. The newest instance is a brand new self-custody crypto pockets, which launched in beta on Tuesday and affords customers a approach to prowl the world of DeFi and Web3 all whereas paying no fuel charges.
The pockets is presently accessible to solely 10,000 prospects who joined a waitlist, however Robinhood’s product group gave me a tour of the brand new service on Monday. The pockets has a number of curious options that I’ll describe under, but in addition has a glossy and user-friendly design that’s lengthy been one of many firm’s hallmarks. This features a instrument to entry one’s non-public key utilizing iCloud—a characteristic that may horrify some crypto purists, however will probably be deeply appreciated by bizarre customers.
The place the product—referred to as merely Robinhood Pockets—feels odd is that it’s construct completely on Polygon, the favored Layer 2 service for Ethereum, and doesn’t let the pockets consumer transact on Ethereum itself. This design choice is comprehensible since Polygon is less expensive and sooner than Ethereum, and it’s what permits Robinhood customers to discover Web3 with out fuel charges. But it surely additionally feels limiting, particularly as Robinhood Pockets doesn’t help Bitcoin or Dogecoin or different tokens incompatible with the Polygon community.
In the meantime, Robinhood’s no-fee providing happened because of an association with decentralized trade 0x that can see the latter facilitate the no-gas-fee buying and selling. The upside is that Robinhood Pockets customers received’t should cope with the clunky means of buying and spending MATIC tokens (used to pay for fuel on Polygon) however, as soon as once more, the choice to conduct all transactions via a single, designated trade doesn’t precisely really feel like the complete crypto expertise.
If the brand new pockets proves a success, none of it will matter a lot as Robinhood can have succeeded in introducing a few of its thousands and thousands of consumers to one thing resembling a Web3 expertise. But when its constraints make it a flop, Robinhood Pockets will show to be one other expansive distraction for a corporation in determined want of a turnaround. It’s going to additionally add grist to rumors that FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, who took a 7.6% stake in Robinhood this summer season, is getting ready to gobble up the whole firm.
Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts
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