Robinhood is now buying and selling USDC stablecoins on its platform and helps withdrawals to Ethereum and Polygon crypto wallets. Whereas shopping for and holding USDC on Robinhood is a pointless technique for investing (the worth of USDC won’t ever change), withdrawing it to a private crypto pockets could be a sensible transfer, as stablecoins are the lifeblood of DeFi and should in the future (hopefully) turn out to be a extensively accepted cost methodology by retailers.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies with a stable value that’s mounted (‘pegged’) to a real-world asset, significantly {dollars}. Stablecoins enable customers to switch cash to one another with no checking account, eradicate the chance of being locked out of a checking account resulting from suspicious exercise, keep away from a financial institution arbitrarily refusing to finish a switch, forestall retailers from struggling bank card reversals, and are a lifesaver for people whose checking account was closed with out warning or cause (an issue often confronted by grownup performers). Whereas on-chain stablecoin makes use of are largely restricted to Decentralized Finance (DeFi) applications, this can change as retailers and banks start accepting stablecoin funds.
On Sept. 20, Robinhood listed Circle’s USDC stablecoin on its platform with assist for withdrawals to Ethereum and Polygon crypto wallets. Robinhood selected USDC resulting from its stellar fame and regulatory compliance, versus Tether’s USDT, which has suffered many controversies over time (together with regulatory lawsuits). Transferring {dollars} from a checking account to a crypto pockets by way of Robinhood is achieved by way of shopping for and withdrawing USDC, which works precisely the identical as withdrawing ETH and different Ethereum cryptocurrencies. Conveniently, when withdrawing USDC from Robinhood, Ethereum/Polygon blockchain gas fees are charged in USDC as an alternative of ETH or MATIC, so the person doesn’t want to carry ETH or MATIC to withdraw their USDC from Robinhood.
Transferring {Dollars} To A Crypto Pockets
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To switch cash from a checking account to an Ethereum/Polygon pockets by way of Robinhood, customers should first personal an Ethereum pockets, which is free to arrange utilizing the favored Metamask Web3 browser extension. Subsequent, customers should full Robinhood’s KYC/AML verification and arrange 2-factor authentication, which is mentioned intimately in Robinhood‘s assist part. As soon as these two stipulations are met, a Robinhood person is then in a position to buy and withdraw USDC to their personal crypto wallet. To switch a reimbursement to their checking account, the person should maintain sufficient ETH/MATIC of their pockets to pay the fuel price, switch the USDC again to their Robinhood account, promote it, after which withdraw the {dollars} to their checking account.
Utilizing a crypto pockets to carry USDC offers customers the power to be their very own financial institution, however additionally it is a a lot larger duty with zero protections if their pockets’s personal secret’s leaked or in the event that they undergo a phishing rip-off. That’s the place hardware crypto wallets (or “cold wallets“) are helpful, as they forestall hackers from utilizing viruses to steal a browser pockets’s personal key, although they can not defend towards phishing scams. For the very best safety, the {hardware} pockets’s tackle ought to by no means be shared publicly, nor ought to it ever work together with any crypto pockets the person shared on social media, as doing so will completely hyperlink the {hardware} pockets to the person and will probably expose them to danger of theft (if their holdings are giant sufficient).
Now that customers should buy and promote USDC on Robinhood, it’s doable to make use of Robinhood as an on-ramp for shifting {dollars} on or off Ethereum/Polygon, which opens the door for permitting individuals to be their very own banks and use their money in Web3 decentralized applications. Till banks start supporting stablecoins, cryptocurrency exchanges like Robinhood and Coinbase will stay essentially the most cost-effective technique to switch cash between Web2 financial institution accounts and Web3 crypto wallets. Whereas self-custody for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins carries a duty that many individuals will not care to tackle at the moment, those that are as much as the duty (or who haven’t got a alternative) can now use Robinhood to switch cash to their Ethereum/Polygon crypto pockets.
Supply: Robinhood/Twitter, Robinhood, Metamask
