Robinhood, a trading platform known for its commission-free model, has introduced gas-free trading on Arbitrum, the leading Ethereum Layer 2 network by Total Value Locked (TVL).
The feature, launched on May 23, enables users to execute trades without incurring gas fees on the Arbitrum network through Robinhood Wallet. For decentralized exchange (DEX) services, Robinhood has partnered with 0x, a decentralized exchange protocol, to provide aggregation services.
According to Robinhood, 0x will offer traders the best available price quotes. Additionally, users have the option to route trades incurring gas fees if they offer a better price compared to gasless trades.
Robinhood stated, “Users can swap without needing ETH for gas on Arbitrum, with 0x as the DEX aggregator behind the activation.”
This development follows Robinhood's collaboration with Arbitrum in February, enabling traders to access swaps via decentralized exchanges built on Arbitrum.
Johann Kerbrat, General Manager of Robinhood Crypto, emphasized, “Accessing and transacting on L2s has historically been difficult to non-crypto natives, but Robinhood Wallet now helps strip away the complexities to help onboard those new to web3.”
Robinhood initiated its cryptocurrency trading services in February 2018 with the launch of Bitcoin and Ethereum markets in five U.S. states. Co-founder Vlad Tenev highlighted, “Cryptocurrencies have become the first foray into investing and financial services to a large number of people.”
Over time, Robinhood expanded its cryptocurrency offerings, adding Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin in July 2018 and facilitating support for on-chain cryptocurrency transfers. By 2021, Robinhood extended cryptocurrency market access to users in nearly all U.S. states.
In March 2021, Robinhood announced plans for a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet and later launched a beta version powered by Polygon to 10,000 iOS users in September 2022. The wallet became available to all iOS users in March 2023 and Android users in March of the following year.
Expanding its global reach, Robinhood introduced crypto trading for European users in December 2023, with plans to extend the service to U.K. customers in 2024. Recently, the company introduced a custodial Solana (SOL) staking service for European customers.
However, Robinhood faced a setback in its U.S. crypto business on May 4 when it received a Wells Notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This notice, typically preceding a formal complaint, followed Robinhood's delisting of Solana, Cardano, and Polygon after the assets were categorized as securities assets in the SEC's lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance.
May 2024, Cryptoniteuae