- Trading and Conditions
- Robinhood as a Crypto App
- Coinbase and Traditional Assets
Coinbase and Robinhood may start a battle to become the go-to fintech app for crypto usage. The apps may compete for onboarding, but also on conditions for activities such as trading and staking.
Trading and Conditions
Coinbase and Robinhood already bring in a similar range of monthly active users. Interest in retail access to investments, as a tool to offset inflation, drove the growth of the apps. For Coinbase, the 2024 bull market brought 8 million monthly active users. Robinhood reported 11.9 million monthly active users in 2024. Both apps show some setbacks since 2021, but are regaining confidence as investors return.
Robinhood as a Crypto App
Robinhood only offers around 35 crypto assets, and it’s especially limited to EU users. The app works as a simple brokerage, for exposure to already well-established coins and tokens. Robinhood still carries assets that have failed to recover and exist as ghost chains with almost no activity. In the coming years, Robinhood may expand its capacity to offer crypto access, after acquiring the Bitstamp exchange in June. The big problem with Robinhood was its ability to freeze trading or liquidate user assets.
Coinbase and Traditional Assets
One of the hopes of Coinbase is that Base could carry tokenized real-world assets. Robinhood has a clear advantage in offering access to stock markets, as well as derivative trading. Coinbase also carries a broker-dealer license since 2018, but has left it unused. In terms of market valuation, Coinbase is the winner with a $49B market cap. The biggest competition between Coinbase and Robinhood would be for fair exposure targeting retail investors.
Amid growing interest in cryptocurrencies and fintech, Coinbase and Robinhood continue to expand their services and capabilities, attracting the attention of the investment community.
