Andreessen Horowitz-backed neobank Current explains why launching crypto trading during a massive downturn is actually good timing

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It may seem odd that numerous fintechs, including Betterment and Step just this week, are launching cryptocurrency trading services during the so-called crypto winter, as prices of the assets have crashed over recent months. And yet neobank Current, known for its early paycheck deposit feature and high yield savings accounts, is now among them, launching their much-teased crypto trading feature this week.

For us, its really about accesswe didnt time this release with a crypto winter, we got it to market as quickly as we could when we said, Okay, theres value here,’ Trevor Marshall, Currents chief technology officer, told Fortune. Current CEO Stuart Sopp added that for a products growth and attach rate and all that stuff, you probably dont want to launch in the height of the high, he told Fortune, noting that it could also be more advantageous for users to get into crypto at lower prices (adding that its not investment advice). Unlike industry titans like crypto exchangeCoinbase, which recently took a big hit on transaction revenue owing to the crash, Current doesnt care as much about how many people are transacting, and how often, insofar as theyre not monetizing the featureat least not right now.

As a zero-fee service for Current, we dont see this as a primary revenue stream, Sopp said. Instead, the value for Current is to keep users in its ecosystem of other revenue-generating products and services: Engagement even with a limited number of trades drives retention into the platform, Marshall noted. The crypto trading feature, which has been live since Wednesday, only lets users buy and sell crypto for now, offering 27 tokens (including, of course, Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as others like Dogecoin). The company, which claims to have over 4 million users, says customers can get instant liquidity from their crypto trading into their spending accounts, which they can then put in savings.

The company is partnering with several third party firms to facilitate the trading and hold the crypto, as Current does not currently custody any crypto, Marshall said, but declined to provide names.

Current is far from the only fintech venturing into crypto, and fee-free trading is also not unique to them. Its move comes at a time when other fintech players in more traditional finance spaces are adding crypto features to their platforms. This week, roboadvisor Betterment launched crypto investing, which includes four thematic crypto offerings, while Gen Z neobank Step also launched Bitcoin investing on Tuesday. Entrenched players like PayPal and Block, formerly Square, have been ahead of the curve, adding crypto trading features on their apps in recent years (Blocks Cash App, for instance, skyrocketed in popularity during the crypto boom in 2021).

Marshall argues that since theyre offering a bank account plus crypto, theyre not in direct competition with the likes of Coinbase, but he does concede theyre brushing up against stalwart fintechs like Revolut, the $33 billion startup based in the UK that also offers zero-fee (up to $200,000 a month) crypto services, as well as PayPal. But to Marshall, the difference really comes down to primacy, which is, we are where our customers get their paycheck.

The company has ambitions to expand further into crypto and Web3 in ways that could become revenue-drivers down the line. This is really just, like, the beginning of a longer crypto roadmap for us, and I think theres more direct monetization available in some of the more advanced types of features we want to build, Marshall noted. Sopp said that enabling access to USDC, the stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, as well as wallet functions, is Currents natural next step. The new crypto feature isnt Currents first foray into the space: Marshall noted they originally started building bridges to the likes of Ripple back in its early days.

However the macroeconomic environment has been rocky for tech and fintech companies, and Current has been working on improving margins and slowing hiring to shore up, Sopp says. The fintech was most recently valued at $2.2 billion following a $220 million funding round in early 2021, and firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global Management back the fintech. Even amid the tricky climate, Sopp says we probably dont need to raise next year, but that everyones going to look sometime next year, referring to fellow startups. He estimates they can be profitable in 2024.

As for a potential IPO, its something Sopp for sure wants to dobut not anytime soon.

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