Robinhood, America’s free trading platform, has recently launched its Web3 wallet beta. According to the news confirmed by the firm’s Chief Technology Officer and General Manager, Johann Kerbrat, the Web3 wallet beta will allow consumers to exchange crypto assets and earn rewards on the Wallet.
The trading platform announced its plans to offer its users a non-custodial crypto wallet earlier this year. The Wallet would come with more Web3 actions other than the traditional buying and selling crypto. True to their word, the platform has now launched a beta version of the Web3 Wallet.
Last year, the firm’s approach to crypto was different because its main application allowed investors to sell and buy cryptocurrencies but with no means or options of receiving and sending cryptocurrencies.
This, fortunately, changed after the firm launched its custodial Wallet last year in September. This year, Robinhood’s approach towards trading crypto has slight differences from last year’s, as seen through its new feature, Web3 wallet beta, which is non-custodial.
Robinhood’s Approach Towards Trading Crypto
Robinhood’s non-custodial Wallet is on the Apple App Store, while the beta is available to eligible enlisted users. Robinhood said that over 1 million people globally are on the firm’s wallet waitlist. The trading platform further disclosed that the Wallet’s full version would be available later this year.
The firm has constantly faced criticism from Web3 enthusiasts since it started supporting limited crypto assets in its primary platform. The complaints were primarily directed at the firm’s decision to give custodial support to crypto.
In this case, the private key’s custodian, Robinhood, is usually responsible for signing transactions with the private key and not the end user in a custodial setting. This, in turn, ensures that the transactions signed are completed. Unfortunately, this action is against Web3’s decentralized ethos.
Robinhood Wallet Beta
The Robinhood Wallet beta allows users to fund their wallets using the USDC stablecoin as the primary fiat-representative token. Additionally, this newly launched beta version of Robinhood’s Web3 Wallet enables users to store and track their funds and earn crypto rewards.
Robinhood will also let users access decentralized applications to participate in DeFi applications and earn yield. Besides, The platform’s Chief Technology Officer and General Manager, Johann Kerbrat, said that,
“Launching the Robinhood Wallet beta marks a significant step forward in our journey to make Robinhood the most trusted and simple crypto platform for customers…Like we did with the stock market, Robinhood Wallet strips away some of the complexities of web3 to make crypto more accessible to everyone.”
The New Wallet Supports Polygon
Furthermore, as stated by Robinhood, the new Wallet is a self-custody wallet, which will first support the Polygon network and then more ecosystems later. Johann Kerbrat said that the firm chose Polygon’s PoS chain as its initial supported network because of its low fees, speed, and robust developer ecosystem.
Polygon offers high throughput, low transaction costs, and beneficial interaction with Polkadot and Cosmos ecosystems. Besides, most brands bridging into Web3, like Reddit, Starbucks, and Disney, to mention a few, use Polygon as their blockchain solution because of its good feature in the blockchain industry.
