Revolut App Adds XRP, Bitcoin Cash to Crypto Options

Mobile banking app Revolut now lets users buy, sell and hold Ripple's XRP and bitcoin cash.

Following the firm's addition of litecoin and ether trading in December 2017, and bitcoin last July, the firm says in a blog post that "after months of debate and hard work," users are able to exchange any of 25 supported fiat currencies for its now five crypto offerings from today.

In the post, Revolut explained the reason for choosing XRP and BCH in particular, saying they were the "two most popular cryptocurrencies our community wanted." However, it remains open to adding more options in future if users make enough "noise."

Revolut is also allowing users to use the cryptocurrencies to top up their debit cards with crypto, saying, "We'll simply deduct the fiat value from your cryptocurrency using the real exchange rate the moment you pay with your Revolut card."

According to another blog post, for cryptocurrency purchases, Revolut charges a 1.5 percent markup on "the average exchange price," which is obtained using live prices from its partner exchanges. Further, while users can send cryptocurrency to other users using the payment option, the firm says that they may not directly transfer them in or out of the app due to "strict regulation."

The U.K.-based app provider's move to offer cryptocurrency services came about following the completion of a $66 million Series B funding round last summer. Index Ventures, an investor in crypto startups BitPay and Xapo, as well as Balderton Capital and Ribbit Capital took part in the round.

Revolut app image via Shutterstock