While the cryptocurrency markets are in turmoil, the industry continues to build and move forward with exciting new developments. One such development comes from a growing cryptocurrency bank.
The bank we speak of is Revolut, a digital banking alternative to the traditional brick and mortar banking system and supporter of cryptocurrency. Revolut already features a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange built into its mobile app and has now received a European banking license.
🥳 Today, we’ve had our application for a European banking licence approved. https://t.co/ho22TQbtfm
— Revolut (@RevolutApp) December 13, 2018
A Crypto Friendly Bank
Amongst the traditional banking industry Revolut is an odd duck, but among the fintech industry they’re the hottest start-up in the United Kingdom. The innovative start-up launched an in-app cryptocurrency exchange last year where customers could exchange their digital assets such as BTC, XRP, ETH, and more coins for fiat currency and vice versa.
Revolut also debuted a crypto debit card which users could use to spend their cryptocurrency and earn cash-back rewards denominated in Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Ripple. Revolut is excitingly innovative and is making positive moves to push cryptocurrency adoption.
Now, as of Thursday, Revolut graduated from the fintech industry and now ranks among the big banks. They received the authorization to offer traditional banking services besides their innovative services to customers throughout Europe.
Revolut will roll out a series of traditional banking services starting with the ability to sign up for direct deposit and receive deposit insurance of up to €100,000 through the European Deposit Insurance Scheme. Next, the digital banking firm will roll out overdraft protection, and traditional personal and business loans.
Revolut’s Goal: Become the ‘Amazon of Banking’
The CEO and founder of Revolut, Nikolay Storonsky, has very ambitious goals for the company. Commenting on the recent banking developments, Storonsky said:
With the banking licence now secured, commission-free stock trading progressing well and five new international markets at final stages of launch, we are living up to our reputation as the ‘Amazon of banking.’ Our vision is simple: one app with tens of millions of users, where you can manage every aspect of your financial life with the best value and technology.
Storonsky continued on to say these services won’t be launching until 2019 and they will offer them to smaller markets first before expanding to larger markets in Europe. He also explained his vision for small business owners using Revolut:
Our vision is that retail and business customers will be able to apply for a loan in just two minutes from within the app, and then have the money in their account almost instantly. We’ll remove the bureaucratic process and come in cheaper than traditional lenders.
2019 is Looking Good
The cryptocurrency industry has been through a lot this year. We’ve experienced all-time highs in the beginning and are now approaching unimaginable lows. However, despite the negative price action, there are positive developments happening everywhere.
- The crypto friendly bank, Revolut is gaining traction and will expand their services in 2019.
- The Opera web browser now features a built-in crypto wallet for android mobile devices.
- Binance is launching Binance Chain which will host millions of tokens and thousands of blockchains.
- Bitcoin Futures by ICE’s Bakkt will launch in January 2019.
- The US Government is showing interest in blockchain technology and even funding blockchain startups.
The above developments are only a drop in a bucket load of positive developments happening in the cryptocurrency industry. As 2018 comes to an end, there is so much to look forward to in 2019.
What are you looking forward to in the cryptocurrency industry? Do you think the merging of crypto and the banking industry is a good thing? Let us know in the comment section below.
