The number of women investing in cryptocurrencies on zero-commission trading app Robinhood is surging in the wake of bitcoin’s recent meteoric price rise, the fintech firm has said.
Female crypto traders have increased seven times from the end of 2020, Robinhood said in a blog post on 11 March, as bitcoin almost doubled in value.
Investing has long been considered a male-dominated arena, but the uptick in everyday retail investors in stock trading and the increased popularity and visibility of digital currencies is evening out the playing field.
“While women remain underrepresented on Robinhood Crypto compared with our total active customer base, it is notable that 40% of Robinhood active women customers are crypto traders,” the company said.
“These figures are encouraging and prove that crypto can be a powerful tool in decentralising power in finance.”
Robinhood currently offers access to seven cryptocurrencies on its platform, including bitcoin, ethereum, dogecoin and litecoin.
The fintech firm is currently under scrutiny over concerns it may diminish users’ sense of risk in the gamification of trading, with European market officials set to probe the transparency of its business model.
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Robinhood received a major influx of users and trading activity in January, as day traders on social media forum Reddit started a wave of support for heavily shorted stocks such as GameStop. The platform was forced to halt buy and sell orders temporarily amid mounting collateral requirements.
Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin has increased dramatically as institutional investors, banks and billionaires become more interested in the cryptocurrency. The digital coin has risen 97% this year to $56,664.94, as of 7:39 GMT on 11 March.
Simon Peters, cryptoasset analyst at online brokerage eToro, said “the real-world case for holding bitcoin has become more apparent to more people and financial institutions”.
“With fiat currencies like the US dollar being weighed down under a growing mountain of debt, and years of policy intervention from central banks increasing correlations between other asset classes, investors want diversification away from traditional investments,” he added.
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“Bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptoassets have given them this opportunity and the journey is far from over. With blockchain developments, such as the explosion in non-fungible tokens (NFTs), taking hold, and the desire for diversification of wealth as strong as ever, the drivers of crypto demand are now becoming increasingly entrenched.”
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To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email Emily Nicolle