Both Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin are Bitcoin spinoffs. Bitcoin Cash, the seventh-largest coin by market capitalization, is identical to Bitcoin save for its block size, which is eight times larger. Litecoin, the ninth-largest coin by market cap, is also similar to Bitcoin; its main differences include a different hashing algorithm and block transaction times. 

London-based Revolut is a challenger bank, meaning that it tries to beat regular retail banks at their own game. For Revolut, this means a shiny app, lower currency conversion fees, and the ability to create new debit cards at the press of a button. Oh, and the crypto stuff. 

The bank is very popular. Revolut disclosed in its most recent financial statement, published on August 12, that it holds £2.2 billion in fiat holdings. In February, the bank raised $500 million in a funding round.

Revolut started offering crypto to its European customers in December 2017 and brought crypto trading to its US customers in July. (It only launched its debit card in the US in March). For European customers, Revolut also supports Stellar and XRP.

There are a few catches to Revolut’s crypto offering in both Europe and in the US. The main caveat is that you don’t have custody over the Bitcoin you buy—Revolut handles it on your behalf. Accordingly, you can only send cryptocurrencies to other Revolut users. 

That means that you can’t transfer it to another wallet or buy ETH to use on decentralized finance protocols, such as non-custodial lending protocols or synthetic stocks (DeFi is the hot topic du jour of the cryptosphere—investors have poured over $9 billion into its smart contracts).

It also means that you can only sell it back to Revolut; you can’t sell it, for instance, on Binance. A spokesperson told Mashable in July that these services are “a focus for the product team going forward.”

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

Top stories, original features, rewards & more.

Get the best of Decrypt where you want it most.

 The App

 The Email

Recommended News

Stacks Foundation Funds Blockstack's Blockchain Expansion

The Stacks Open Internet Foundation, founded in May 2020, is giving grants worth up to $5,000 to projects that can improve the Stacks (STX) blockchain and the ecosystem that surrounds it. Bloc...

SEC Faces Stiff Test in Regulating DeFi, Says Hester Peirce

Hester Peirce, the regulator affectionately known as “Crypto Mom,” was last month sworn in for a second term as a commissioner on the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In an interview wit...

Brazil Could Have CBDC by 2022, Says Central Bank President

Brazilians may be opening a new chapter in their relationship with crypto and blockchain technologies. According to the president of the Central Bank of Brazil, Roberto Campos Neto, the countr...

Ethereum Smart Contract Activity at All-time High

DeFi is pushing the Ethereum network to unprecedented levels, as smart contract applications and users stress-test the world’s most in-demand decentralized computing protocol. Contract calls o...

Privacy Bug Found in Apple, Google COVID-Tracing Framework

In April, tech giants Apple and Google teamed up to put their considerable combined resources toward developing a COVID-19 tracing solution. For those who opt in, the solution automatically us...

'NFT Farming' Takes Root With a $3M Meme Coin

At the height of degen farming, where new food coins are quickly diminishing the reputation around liquidity mining, there’s at least one project that shines through the rough thanks to a tigh...

News

Learn

Features

Coins

Collections