Robinhood Explores New Feature Called 'Round Up Investment' to Protect Customers Against Crypto Volatility

Robinhood Markets is now working on new features that will protect customers against volatility in crypto trading, according to a report from Bloomberg. Based on the analysis of iOS developer Steve Mose’s analysis of the code hidden inside a test version of the company's iPhone app, the report claims that Robinhood is developing a new option. This option is called “round up investment” that will allow users to invest their spare change in specific stocks. “To protect your orders against price volatility, we may sometimes skip your recurring orders or buy less than your chosen amount,” reads the message in the code. According to the code, which was part of the version of the app distributed to beta testers earlier this month, the company is further exploring a rewards program that will give bonuses to those using the round-up feature. Crypto is increasingly becoming an important part of Robinhood’s business model as 17% of its Q1 revenue, up from 3% in Q1 of last year, came from crypto transactions. 34% of this came from Dogecoin alone. During this weekend’s virtual roadshow, its CEO and co-founder, Vlad Tenev, said that they are working on improving and expanding the company's crypto offerings as a priority. Robinhood, which has about 18 million funded investment accounts on its platform, is also considering launching US retirement accounts. The zero-fee trading platform is going public this week, seeking a market valuation of as much as $35 billion.