Bloomberg: Crypto, Fiat Trading App Robinhood ‘in Talks’ to Obtain US Banking Licence
Stock and crypto trading app Robinhood plans to offer services to its 4 mln users, Bloomberg June 20, citing anonymous sources.
Robinhood, which in February zero-fee trading through its Robinhood Crypto tool, is currently in “constructive” talks with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to position itself as a banking services provider.
According to “people familiar with the matter,” Robinhood is going after features such as savings accounts, beating out competition from traditional banks through improved interest rates and an all-in-one financial portal.
The move comes a month after the company announced it had in funding to expand Robinhood Crypto to the entire U.S. market.
At the time, Robinhood to be “the fastest-growing brokerage ever,” reaching a valuation of $5.6 bln.
Meanwhile, competition for banking customers is increasing in the cryptocurrency-oriented sector.
Goldman Sachs-backed , which in February cryptocurrency exchange , it was also pursuing a banking licence with the OCC earlier this month.
, the largest U.S. crypto exchange and wallet provider, also began talks with the OCC regarding obtaining a federal banking licence and its “business model,” Cointelegraph in May.
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After previously slamming bitcoin and other digital currencies as “not real”, “fad”, and “a pyramid scheme”, billionaire traditional investor Howard Marks made a spectacular U-turn on his views on the new financial technology in his latest memo to Oaktree Clients.
Howard Marks’ 180 Degree Turn
In his July memo, Howard Marks explored the world of cryptocurrencies and leveled heavyat them. However, after receiving significant backlash from various media outlets for his ‘dinosaur’ views and lack of understanding of the new financial technology, Marks decided to revisit the topic to get ‘enlightened’ and ‘educated’ on the subject. In his , he claims that bitcoin partisans encouraged him to think of bitcoin as a currency – a medium of exchange – rather than as an investment asset.
The billionaire investor acknowledged his ‘mistake’ as he had been looking at bitcoin the wrong way, and humbly conceded that much of the arguments he made against the cryptocurrency were applicable to the dollar as well. Marks subsequently made the case for qualifying bitcoin as a currency and concluded that although he sees no reason why bitcoin can’t serve as a currency and “become an accepted medium of exchange”, he warned against getting caught up in the hype and buying it with the sole view of making money off it.
1/ Marks received more feedback from his July memo than any other memo he published over the last 28 yrs.
bitcoin’s volatility, which has seen it rise over 350% in 2017 alone, , who was quick to point out that the lack of an upper ceiling for bitcoin which sees limitless appreciation fails to make sense to him. He asks, “Would you sell your house for euros that are said to be worth two or three times as much as the dollar?”
Although this represents a risk averse and extremely conservative outlook, it does provoke thoughts pertaining to long term stability of currencies. Marks also shares his other major concern, that the low barriers to entry give rise to many competing transaction systems. Would bitcoin’s utility as a payment mechanism be hampered if Amazon announced its own? He asks, “Would you rather transact in bitcoin or Amazonians?”
shouldn't turn to – it's ineffective &too volatile. Instead, adopt or .
In the new memo, Marks makes it clear that he advocates for bitcoin as a currency and warns against “lottery-ticket thinking”, which seduces people towards the cryptocurrency as it offers the possibility of vast wealth. Although some elements or “seeds for a boom” that contributed to past historical economic bubbles are evident in , Marks emphatically makes it known that none of them make bitcoin a ‘mistake’. He also that with the existence of tons of cryptocurrencies and the possibility of endless more, the winner will be hard to call.
As evidenced by the hundreds of e-commerce start ups during the tech bubble, most of which ended up worthless, putting all your eggs in one basket might not be the wisest thing to do. Although Marks said that he still considers it a speculative bubble and therefore still doesn’t “feel like putting my money into it”, he also said that he was “willing to be proved wrong.” For such a juggernaut in the field of traditional financial investing, this is as close as anyone can get to singing the praises of the very technology that might be the cause of their own downfall.
Howard Marks is coming around on bitcoin, but says "I still don’t feel like putting my money into it."
What do you think of Howard Marks’ new memo and shift in position on bitcoin? Do you agree with his bottom line? How would you respond to his apprehensions? Let us know in the comments below.
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