Revolut shelves plans for native crypto token
Revolut is reportedly holding off on plans to launch its native crypto token, which aims to reward customers for their loyalty, as the London-based neobank is currently assessing the best time to do that.
A Revolut spokesperson told Financial News in an interview, in which he also shared details on the neobank’s forthcoming non-custodial wallet: “We are scoping the market conditions and assessing the best time to launch RevCoin in the coming months.”
The representative cited the contagion from the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which spreads across the industry, as the reason for the delayed launch of the long-rumored native token.
The fiasco of Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire, once a $32 billion crypto exchange, has shattered investor confidence in cryptocurrencies. As such, Revolut is trying to gauge the extent of damage it has caused and how it will reshape the industry in the years to come.
Dubbed “Revcoin,” the coin will function in a similar way to airline Air Miles programs, where users earn rewards based on how often they use the service. There were also plans to launch non-custodial wallet within the Revolut in-app hub, support non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and DeFi protocols.
Revolut, however, is expanding its digital asset offering as it seeks to build market share against crypto-native platforms. As the firm quadrupled its token portfolio in 2022, the latest additions bring the total number of cryptocurrencies available to customers in the UK and the EEA to nearly 100.
Alongside the launch of new tokens, the London-based fintech has added a new currency to its ‘Learn & Earn’ courses, which launched in July and hit one million users just one month later.
The expansion of its crypto offering comes hot on the heels of introducing a new ‘spend from crypto’ feature, which converts users’ crypto balance into fiat money that can be spent to pay for everyday purchases.
The new feature makes it faster for Revolut cardholders to sell their crypto assets and push those funds to their credentials in real-time to pay for eCommerce and in-person purchases. The conversion transaction is subject to the exchange rate and crypto exchange fees applicable to each user’s subscription plan.
The challenger bank recently increased its fair usage caps, enabling US consumers to trade crypto up to $200,000 per month. Revolut, which is valued at $33 billion, has also launched price alerts, the ability to recur transfers, and enabled customers to buy crypto with their “spare change round-ups”.
