Revolut, the UK-based digital banking startup, offered fee-free crypto trading on its platform to build a userbase for itself in the US. Currently, it has a customer base of 300,000 in the US, and Revolut will now allow them and new customers to perform crypto trades up to $200,000 per month for free.
Earlier the charge was about 1.5% to 2.5% per transaction, but now it will be free. Revolut has partnered with Paxos to facilitate this feature. The banking startup is also offering free out-of-network ATM services where one can withdraw $1200 per month and send 10 remittances per month for free.
Revolut’s US CEO, Ron Oliveira, said, “By breaking down fees, we’re empowering Revolut’s US customers to achieve financial freedom and drive their own financial journey, whether that be opening their first banking account, trading in new financial markets, or sending money to loved ones overseas,” said Ron Oliveira, Revolut’s US CEO.
The bank also offers five free Revolut junior accounts for kids aged 6-17 controlled by their parents. Besides all this, the app will enable users to make 10 international transfers per month to any account in 30 countries, including the UK, France, Japan, and Australia.
Revolut’s major customer base is from California and Arizona, who use the app for sending remittances, and the offering of 10 remittances will be pretty beneficial for them.
In the conversation with Decrypt, Ron Oliveira said that he wanted to make the US Revolut’s second-biggest market after the UK. He also mentioned, “The free crypto part is part of a larger pitch to investors that we're a provider of services.”
Revolut has a ‘super app’ abundant with features and tools that aid people in finance and cryptocurrency usage. For cryptocurrency trading, the app currently offers Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Ethereum. Besides the app, the company also has about 55000 ATMs where in-network withdrawals are free.
Oliveira spoke about how he wants to add numerous features to this super app so that it becomes a one-stop-shop for all things banking, personal finance, and other necessities. This way, people could entirely rely on the app for their needs, thus paving the path for the US to become Revolut’s second-biggest market after the UK.
The app was launched just when the pandemic began, and with things more stable now, Revolut is making several efforts to grow its customer base in the country. Oliveira mentioned how marketing endeavors were well underway across social media platforms and how the company will also partner with influencers.
Furthermore, he also said that Revolut would soon launch its own token in the coming months. However, this will not be available in the US for the time being and will be launched elsewhere.
With all these endeavors and efforts underway, it is also interesting to note that Revolut already has numerous competitors in the US region.
For instance, companies such as Coinbase offer way more cryptocurrencies than Revolut currently does. Chime and Varo are already established digital banks in the US market. Furthermore, brands such as Venmo and Square are also emerging into the banking space. In terms of providing fee-free trading, Robinhood and PayPal already offer that. In fact, PayPal is also currently building its own super-app.
Oliveira seemed pretty confident about the super app and how it could take over the market despite these challenges. It’d be pretty interesting to see how Revolut approaches this competition, and we’ll know soon whether it can establish a foothold in the US region.
In September, the company bought the largest office in the country at WeWork in Dallas after paying for it entirely in Bitcoins. This news definitely gained a lot of traction from the various competitors and other players in the industry.
Revolut launched in 2015 and in 2020 and was valued at about 5.5 billion dollars. After the funding round this year, where the company raised 800 million dollars, it was valued at 33 billion dollars. This means the company is valued six times more than the last year, making it the second-largest fintech startup in Europe and the biggest fintech in the UK.