British banking app Revolut is taking a significant step into digital assets. In a Tuesday blog post, the fintech company unveiled Revolut X, a specialized crypto trading platform for retail customers based in the U.K., that “reaffirms” its commitment to the crypto industry. The launch of the crypto platform is notable as Revolut is first and foremost a traditional fintech company.
With over 40 million users, Revolut is one of the world’s largest fintech companies, and is positioning the exchange to compete with large crypto incumbents like Coinbase and Binance. It is aiming to become the “go-to financial app for crypto beginners and pros alike.”
“We are empowering our customers to further grow their wealth, either in fiat or in crypto,” Leonid Bashlykov, head of crypto exchange product at Revolut, told Fortune.
The platform will allow traders to buy and sell over 100 tokens, and fees will range from zero to 0.09%. Investors must be Revolut customers to trade on the platform, and will be able to seamlessly on- and off-ramp funds between their Revolut X and Revolut retail accounts. The news follows the launch of Revolut Ramp in March, which enables investors to purchase crypto directly in their wallets through a partnership with MetaMask.
“Revolut’s user base is young and crypto-curious, and its profitability has been tightly associated with crypto,” Boaz Sobrado, a London-based fintech analyst, told Fortune. Indeed, the first time Revolut managed to achieve profitability was in 2021, at the peak of the previous bull run. The high margins of crypto trading will help fuel Revolut’s profitability, Sobrado added.
Revolut launched its U.K. crypto offerings following the introduction of recent rules by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the British regulatory agency. The rules have introduced mandatory “24-hour cooling-off” periods, in which investors have to wait a full day before completing crypto transactions.
“These barriers to entry are unsurmountable for smaller or offshore companies, but achievable for companies like Revolut and Kraken. This means there’s less competitors around, and hence a larger opportunity,” Sobrado explained.
Revolut’s renewed crypto focus is also partially explained by the wider market’s positive outlook. Since the Jan. 11 approval of 10 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S., which have amassed over $53 billion in assets, the price of Bitcoin is up over 40%, according to CoinGecko data. With financial companies like BlackRock and Fidelity now issuing crypto products, the market growth has been accelerated by access to a wider pool of investors compared with previous cycles.
But the launch of Revolut X stands in contrast to the company’s U.S. retreat. In August 2023, the company ceased its crypto trading services for U.S. customers, citing an unclear regulatory landscape and resultant uncertain market conditions—although, this affects just 1% of its user base.
Moreover, on Monday, fintech company Robinhood, a retail trading platform, said that it had received a Wells Notice from the SEC about its crypto business, meaning it faces impending disciplinary action.
