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Robinhood shareholders want crypto wallets and a hat

August 18, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Currently, users of popular stock and digital currency trading app Robinhood users can't move their crypto off the platform.

Retail shareholders of crypto-friendly trading app Robinhood are demanding a crypto wallet along with a branded hat and hoodie, a public shareholders questionnaire revealed.

The public question crowdsourcing platform Say, which was Robinhood’s first purchase after it went public, enabled retail shareholders of Robinhood to ask and upvote questions in a Reddit-style interface. “Management will address a selection of the most upvoted questions relating to Robinhood’s business and financial results on the earnings call,” Say explains.

The top question directed to the Robinhood management by retail shareholders as of Aug. 18 was about introducing a crypto wallet within the trading app. The question, “Is Robinhood getting a crypto wallet?” was shared more than 141,500 times and received over 1,600 votes.

Robinhood currently lists a bunch of popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) for trade on its platform.

While the users can buy, sell and hold listed cryptocurrencies within the app, they cannot access the coins themselves to transfer them to other wallets due to the lack of a crypto wallet feature. The company announced plans to offer crypto deposits and withdrawals way before its initial public offering, but the feature is yet to be introduced.

Questions about Robinhood’s roadmap for an international expansion and joint accounts came in second and third places on the platform, respectively. Interestingly, the question “as initial investor, can we get a Robinhood hat and hoody jacket?” was the fourth most popular question with more than 100,000 shares and 915 upvotes.

Following a clunky public debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange, Robinhood bought Say Technologies in a $140 million cash deal to bolster the relationship between the company and its retail shareholders. The trading app is also working on a feature to protect investors from the volatility of cryptocurrencies.

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Bitcoin inheritance tool to use cloud service by Russian Sberbank

July 29, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

A new project in Russia aims to enable secure storage of inherited digital possessions like Bitcoin using a cloud-based service of state-owned Sberbank.

A group of Russian experts is working on a new blockchain-based service to allow users to bequeath their cryptocurrency holdings and digital rights to the next generation.

The National Technological Initiative (NTI), a global technical leadership program in Russia, announced a new digital inheritance tool based on blockchain technology, local news agency RIA Novosti reported Tuesday.

The initiative brings together experts from three local universities, including Lomonosov Moscow State University, the National Research Nuclear University and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Dubbed “Time Capsule,” the service would allow users to store digital data and assets like social media passwords and Bitcoin wallet keys, according to the NTI. The service would also allow the transfer of other digital possessions like images, texts, videos, or location coordinates, NTI representatives reportedly noted.

Project manager Dmitry Izvekov said that the working group is now building a website that would allow users to store their digital possessions in encrypted form before the data is ready to be transferred to specified persons only on the specified date. The transfer of this information is only available if certain conditions are met, effective not earlier than six months after the data was uploaded on the website, Izvekov added.

According to the report, the expert group plans to store the encrypted digital inheritance data on SberCloud, a cloud-based service run by state-owned Sber (formerly known as Sberbank), the largest bank in Russia.

Users would be able to duplicate the data over cloud services like DropBox, the report notes. The project creators reportedly intend to raise up to 3 million rubles ($40,000) to finance the initiative, expecting to monetize the platform as soon as it grows more popular and offers additional services.

Despite Sber’s cloud-based platform is reportedly expected to be involved in storing digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) as part of the project, Russia's largest bank is not a big fan of the cryptocurrency, at least within the country. Last month, Sberbank CEO Herman Gref argued that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are probably the riskiest type of investment alongside the equity market. As reported, Sber previously planned to set up a cryptocurrency exchange through its Swiss subsidiary in January 2018.

PayPal’s crypto ‘super app’ set to roll out soon

July 28, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Wallet

Dan Schulman said the project was already "code complete" and planned to be fully ramped in the United States in the next several months.

Payment provider company PayPal said its users may not have much longer to wait to have greater crypto functionality through the platform.

During PayPal’s Q2 2021 investor update call today, CEO Dan Schulman said the initial version of the company’s super app wallet was “code complete.” The PayPal president said the company planned for the wallet to be fully ramped in the United States in the next several months.

The super app wallet will feature high yield savings, early access to direct deposit funds, messaging capability, “additional crypto capabilities,” and more. Schulman said each wallet would be “unique, driven by advanced AI and machine learning capabilities.”

PayPal reported that it had more than 400 million active user accounts as of June 30, with $311 billion in total payment volume for the second quarter of 2021. The firm also added 14.5 million new active accounts, bringing its user base to 392 million. Venmo, the PayPal-owned payments firm which launched crypto trading in April, had roughly $58 billion in total payment volume for the second quarter of 2021, with 76 million active accounts.

“We’re one of a few payments companies to allow consumers to use cryptocurrency as a funding source,” said the PayPal CEO. “We’re also seeing strong adoption and trading of crypto on Venmo.”

Earlier this month, PayPal announced it would be increasing the limit on crypto purchases for certain users based in the United States from $20,000 to $100,000. The payments firm initially said it would be entering the crypto space in October 2020, later allowing eligible customers to use crypto for trading and payments.

Crypto app Valora raises $20M, becomes independent from Celo

July 27, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Crypto app Valora raises M, becomes independent from Celo

Business

Valora said it will use the funds for product development and create educational content "to get more people comfortable using cryptocurrencies."

Celo-powered crypto wallet Valora has closed on a $20 million funding round, as the company announced it will become a standalone entity.

In a Tuesday announcement, Valora said Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Nima Capital, NFX, Valor Capital, and others had invested $20 million in a Series A round for the crypto app, which will now operate as an independent company. Jackie Bona, the former head of consumer growth of Celo's cLabs cLabs, will become Valora’s new chief executive officer.

"I am delighted to be leading Valora at such a dynamic time in this important evolution, both as an independent company and in the cryptocurrency world at large," said Bona. "Consumer awareness of crypto has never been higher, and yet many people remain on the sidelines, either due to skepticism or lack of access.”

Valora said it will use the funds for product development and create educational content “to get more people comfortable using cryptocurrencies.” The platform reported it has more than 53,000 monthly active users able to send funds around the world.

First launched in February, Valora allows users to send payments with its Celo Dollar stablecoins (cUSD), backed by other cryptocurrencies in the Celo ecosystem. The price of the blockchain’s native token CELO is $2.55 at the time of publication.

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