E-Trade, may begin offering Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading to its 5 million customers, as reported by Bloomberg.
The Bloomberg report also states that more cryptocurrencies may be added in the future, making E-Trade a possible competitor to the likes of Coinbase and Robinhood for a share of the regulated and non-custodial trading segment.
TD Ameritrade have 11m clients , ETrade have 5m+ clients. Both will be offering BTC trading to their clients soon. Do the maths…
— Ran Neuner (@cryptomanran) April 28, 2019
It is most likely that those who purchase Bitcoin or Ethereum on the platform will not have the private keys to the funds themselves, with E-Trade reportedly in talks with a third party for the custody of users’ digital assets.
E-Trade, which generates nearly $3 billion in revenue, offers a major brokerage service that could help bring further adoption and attract more investors into the cryptocurrency markets.
Coinrivet recently covered the story of Etoro launching a crypto exchange platform called etoroX. The new platform will transition the firm from just a social crypto trading product (for its 10 million users) to now sending and receiving cryptocurrencies and stablecoins on its bespoke trading platform. Like Etoro, E-Trade may also look to follow suit, if it can see demand for such a product from its 5 million strong user base.
Mobile stock trading app Robinhood, on the other hand, launched cryptocurrency trading services over a year ago and recently announced a plan to launch an initial public offering (IPO).
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.