Robinhood Lists Ethereum Classic (ETC) Day Before Rival Coinbase
ETC listed on Robinhood Crypto just a day before being added to Coinbase platforms.
US-based stock and crypto trading app Robinhood added support for Ethereum Classic (ETC) on Monday, just a day before rival Coinbase lists the coin on its platforms.
“Starting today, you can invest in Ethereum Classic on Robinhood Crypto, commission-free,” an official blog post read.
The ETC option, taking the number of digital assets listed on the platform to six, is available to traders in the 19 US states with access to Robinhood Crypto, the company added.
The crypto trading platform was launched in February with support for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). In recent months, Robinhood, which achieved a $5.6 billion valuation in May at the conclusion of its $363 million Series D funding round, expanded the range of supported cryptocurrencies, listing Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), and Dogecoin (DOGE).
Notably, Robinhood users can also monitor market data, read cryptocurrency news and create price alerts for 10 other coins — Ripple (XRP), Monero (XMR), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Dash (DASH), Lisk (LSK), NEO (NEO), OmiseGO (OMG), Qtum (QTUM), Stellar (XLM), Zcash (ZEC). Considering the company’s ambitious expansion plans and steep development since the start of the year, the aforementioned assets are also possible future additions to the trading service.
One step ahead of rival Coinbase
Robinhood’s decision to list Ethereum Classic follows a similar announcement by Coinbase. The rival company revealed last week that it had begun final testing for the cryptocurrency and will begin accepting transfers in ETC on Tuesday, August 7.
Robinhood, which is a strong competitor to Coinbase in the US market, must have decided to step up its development effort for adding ETC so that it could have its support ready before Coinbase.
Robinhood co-founder and co-CEO Baiju Bhatt said in an interview with Fortune earlier this year that the company plans to bolster its cryptocurrency trading service and outstrip Coinbase, which currently has around 20 million users. Bhatt remarked that, unlike its main competitor, Robinhood is already a registered broker-dealer with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“We expect by the end of the year to be either the largest or one of the largest crypto platforms out there,” Bhatt said.
ETC price on the up
The flurry of listing announcements has boosted the price of Ethereum Classic. Over the past few days, ETC jumped from around $14 to over $18, representing a 28% gain. Now the coin has officially surpassed the market cap of NEO and Monero, currently ranking as the 12th-largest digital currency, with a market capitalization of $1.9 billion, according to Coins.Onlinedata.
In the past 24 hours, ETC has gained just over 6% to trade at $18.28. The coin’s hike came amid a generally subdued crypto market, where most assets remained in the red throughout the day.
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