Robinhood is a US-based cryptocurrency and stock exchange investing platform where you can buy and sell your assets.
You can buy, sell, and have access to real-time market data of 11 cryptocurrencies including but not limited to Bitcoin (BTC), Compound (COMP), Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Polygon (MATIC), and others.
This platform offers a variety of options for investments such as crypto, stock, and ETF (exchange-traded funds, which consist of the gathering of different companies representing a sector or industry).
They also pride themselves on having a 0% fee commission policy.
Following their announcement at the Bitcoin Conference in early April 2022, they launched their Crypto Wallet, but only for early investors who joined their WenWallets waitlist.
It is still in trial and being worked on for now (please note that it isn’t available in Hawaii, Nevada, and New York at the moment, due to their respective regulations).
They mentioned ‘Lightning Network is Coming to Robinhood’. Investors will be able to send and receive crypto from other exchange platforms which wasn’t a possibility up until now.
What is their goal with their wallet? Who is their main audience? Is it going to be revolutionary or are they going to align with other platforms?
We explored the pros and cons of owning a Crypto wallet with Robinhood for you.
Who Is RobinhoodWallet For?
Robinhood platform offers a friendly first approach thanks to its simple design, a mix of bright and darker colors, and simple terms and vocabulary used.
There is only a few essential information to be found on the first page and it is said to sign up fast. They stated, ‘Investing is simple here’.
User-friendly thanks to its simplicity of use and drop of jargon, it makes it easier for first-time investors to hop in.
On the other hand, the small number of assets you can invest in may prevent advanced and professional crypto investors to use it. In fact, as previously mentioned, there are only 11 cryptocurrencies supported at present.
A lot of main trading options are also missing for professional investors, such as yield farming, pools, staking, and other features.
All of this may reduce the use of this exchange to mostly novice investors.
Pros & Cons of Robinhood Wallet
| Pros | Cons |
| User-friendly platform (Support for novice investors with Robinhood Learn articles) | Only 11 cryptocurrencies supported and it doesn’t support NFTs at present |
| No commission fee | Only available to US-based investors |
| Stock and Crypto trade | You don’t own and therefore can’t transfer your crypto (until you get access to the new wallet option) |
| Possibility to send and receive crypto from other exchanges (new & restricted to people who joined the waitlist prior to launch for now) | You can only invest during a certain timeframe like stock exchange (between 7 am until 8 pm EST) |
| Customer Support call back option 24/7 via the website and app | Limited type of transactions supported (such as buying, selling and limit orders) |
Our Take On the Robinhood Wallet
In the end, Robinhood Crypto wallet is a great platform for users already doing stock exchange as it’s the same interface and has approximately the same opening times (7 am to 8 pm EST).
It is also a great platform for novice investors as you can find everything in one place with lots of guidance (with Robinhood Learn), it is straightforward and easy to use.
Investors who don’t want to explore all the crypto DeFi (Decentralized Finance) platforms would also find this wallet more convenient than others.
We can tell that their main activity isn’t Cryptocurrency, which may become an option further down the line, but at present, it is still strongly stock exchange oriented as it remains very limited in terms of crypto transactions.
The fact that the transactions aren’t as fast as other exchange platforms, the small amount of supported crypto and the options that remain restricted to only 4 (buy, sell, receive, and send) make it hard for advanced and professional investors to use this wallet.
This app is great if you wish to start with small investments and wish to hold (or HODL) for quite a long time.
Doing day trading or multiple transactions a day won’t be as smooth as on other platforms which might eventually lead to a loss of opportunities since we know that the crypto market moves rapidly and never sleeps compared to the stock exchange.
Choosing your type of Crypto wallet will then depend on the type of investments you wish to make.
Robinhood Wallet Fees
Although Robinhood does not charge extra commission fees to send and receive crypto, the network fee, also known as the ‘gas fee’, still applies.
The latter depends on the coin but also on the market fluctuation at the moment of the transaction (i.e., higher transaction fees may apply in high demand, usually when a price drops or rises significantly).
However, Robinhood assures that members can release the exact amount of crypto that they wish to send.
They state that they’ll calculate the total fee for the investor and display it before the transfer.
They also mention that the amount of the fee will be added to the total of the transfer rather than deduced from it.
Here is an example of what they state on their website, “if you want to send 100 DOGE and the network fee is 1 DOGE, the recipient wallet will receive 100 DOGE, the network miners will receive 1 DOGE, and your account will be deducted the sum total 101 DOGE.”
Safety Of the Robinhood Wallet
Back in January 2021, Robinhood became the center of controversy shortly after they decided to freeze some of their trades for GameStop stock.
GameStop shares had significantly risen after a group of traders from Reddit bought the stock of the company.
Robinhood had then decided to restrict transactions regarding that stock mentioning that it was too volatile and needed regulatory requirements.
Robinhood got fined the consequent sum of 70 million dollars by the FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) for having misled their investors, they also lost users on the same occasion.
There was also a data security leak incident in November 2021 where a third party gained access to the personal data of their users, the incident has since been investigated by a security firm.
Since the latter incidents, Robinhood enforced its security measures. They are now covered with SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation) they are set to protect customers and their investments up to $500,000 (for stock only not for crypto investments).
They have Password safety measures that encrypt passwords instead of keeping them in plain text, sensitive details are encrypted too when stored.
When it comes to bank details, they mentioned ‘Once we verify your banking credentials, we’ll never access them again. We use trusted third-party integrations to access information about your bank accounts, such as your account number and available balance.’
They also protect their customer’s accounts with a two-factor authenticator.
Whenever a user logs in or wishes to make changes in their account they’ll have to verify their identity to complete their actions.
Finally, they have a ‘how to identify and report scams’ section on their website to orient and educate their users about it.
Robinhood Wallet Recovery
If it is a matter of a forgotten password, you can click on the ‘forgot password link’ on the website or on your mobile application to receive a link via email.
If you have forgotten or made a mistake with your email address, you can create a ticket to amend it.
On the other hand, if for any reason you cannot access your device, you have the possibility to use a backup code instead of the verification code.
However, you’ll still need to remember your credentials (username and password) in order to sign in.
You can also contact Robinhood Customer Support if you have further questions or if you require more support.
Robinhood Wallet Features
Since their latest big announcement at the Bitcoin conference in early April 2022, users who made it to the whitelist will have the possibility to benefit from new features.
In fact, they will gain more freedom as they’ll be able to complete more transactions with their crypto.
They will be able to send tips to social media influencers (also known as social media content creators), buy NFTs, and more.
A feature that has been highly requested that will now be available too is the option to send crypto to other wallet platforms by scanning a QR code (at no withdrawal fees, however, network fees will still apply).
Users will have an estimated dollar value before sending their crypto. Regarding security, the platform enforced its measures with two-factor authentication (2FA).
Very enthusiastic about the changes the CEO and Co-Founder of Robinhood Vlad Tenev stated “Our goal is to make Robinhood the most trusted and easiest to use crypto platform. We’re excited to bring even lower costs to our customers by integrating with the Lightning network“.
Please note that Robinhood warns its investors about ensuring that a cryptocurrency is supported by its platform before trying to send it to their Robinhood wallet.
Any cryptocurrency that isn’t supported by their platform will be lost and not recoverable. The coins supported by their platform at present are the following 11 assets: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Compound (COMP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC), Polygon (MATIC), Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Solana (SOL).)
Wallet Mobile App Experience
You can download the Robinhood: Stocks & Crypto app on both iPhone on the Appstore and Android on Google Play.
The mobile app is quite intuitive, smooth, and pretty speedy to navigate through, really similar to the desktop platform.
To be able to use it and set up a wallet, you’ll have to go through an identity check for security and safety measures.
In order to complete those steps, you’ll also need to download a two-Factor Authenticator, such as Google authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator.
You can find lots of them on both AppStore and Google Play. It can take up to 5 business days for the team to validate your profile just like it can also take a couple of hours.
On that app, you’ll have access to both stocks and crypto.
To access the crypto space, you’ll have to scroll all the way down to the homepage, and/or you can also find it by clicking on the magnifying glass and searching ‘crypto’.
Once you’re there, it’s quite straightforward, you’ll have access to the 11 cryptocurrencies that you can buy.
You’ll also have the possibility to see them gathered by families; Newly listed Crypto, Ethereum Family, Bitcoin Family, and Altcoins.
Once you click on one of them, you’ll see their chart and their current price. You’ll have the option to buy, sell, send, or receive the amount of this coin.
Buying crypto on the app is an easy and fast process, however, to send or receive it is a bit slower as it can take from under an hour to up to 24hours in some cases. (Each transaction goes into review for security and safety purposes.
You’ll receive a message within the app whenever a transaction is pending or complete).
You can now scan a QR code to send crypto, which wasn’t the case for users who were able to test the app back in January and February.
As mentioned before, there is a 0% commission fee however, network fees still apply, the latter will be collected by the coin for its transaction rather than by Robinhood.
(Please note that this is still a testing version of the app, as it is still a work in progress it may change and evolve again in a few weeks or months to a better version with more features.)
Wallet Site Experience
The website experience is like the app. It’s as smooth and intuitive, the only difference is of course the layout which is larger on the website.
You’ll have on the left side the cryptocurrencies and their chart and on the right side, you’ll be able to buy, sell, send, or receive them.
Same as the app, you’ll have access to both your stocks and crypto investments. You’ll have the possibility to create a watchlist to analyze a coin before investing in it.
The transaction timeframe reflects the app too.
(Once again, this version may evolve soon to a better and more efficient platform in the months to come.
It is not yet accessible to all, as it is still on a whitelist first come first serve basis for now.)
Robinhood Customer Service
Contacting their customer support is quite straightforward on both the website and the app.
On the website, there’s a ‘support’ section. All the topics are gathered into groups where you can find any type of frequently asked questions and answers.
If these do not help you with your request, you can click on the ‘still have questions contact Robinhood Support’ tab.
They’ll then ask you to sign in first, if you can’t, they’ll ask you for your email address and phone number. You can also easily contact them and request a callback.
You can do so on both the website and the app. Here are the steps to follow:
Account tab > Help > Contact us > Select the topic of your question > Contact us > Phone > Request Call
These are the steps for IOS and Website, for Android, there’ll be an extra step right after the Account tab, ‘Tap three lines to open the menu’ the rest is similar.
You’ll then receive a text to let you know once you’re next to receive a call.