Revolut Pulls the Plug on Crypto in US, Citing Regulatory Environment

Revolut, a London-based neobank, plans to wrap up its crypto trading offering to users in the United States by October 3, CoinDesk reported today (Friday). Users have until September 2 to purchase digital assets on the platform, and another one month to sell their crypto holdings.

Revolut to Quit US Crypto Market

According to CoinDesk, the challenger bank blamed the “difficult decision” on the “evolving regulatory environment” in the United States. In recent months, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has intensified its crackdown on “crypto-asset securities” offered by “unregistered” trading platforms such as Binance and Coinbase.

In the lawsuit against Binance filed in early June, the SEC listed 13 tokens, including Cardano’s ADA, Polygon’s MATIC, and Solana’s SOL, as unregistered securities. The move forced several platforms including Revolut, Robinhood and eToro, to move towards delisting some of the tokens from their platforms.

Revolut, which suspended the purchase of ADA, MATIC and SOL on its platform, initially gave its US users until September 18 to sell their holdings. With the deadline several weeks away, Revolut has decided to instead shut down its entire crypto services in the country.

However, Revolut in a statement shared with CoinDesk noted that its users from other regions are not affected by the decision. It emphasized that the move will impact less than 1% of its crypto customers across the world.

“This decision has not been taken lightly, and we understand the disappointment this may cause,” Revolut stated.

Revolut Grows amidst Challenges

Revolut's planned exit from the US crypto market comes at a time the fintech company, which recently marked its first full year of profit, is enduring blows to its valuations. The firm, which began as a cross-border money transfer platform and subsequently expanded into crypto trading, consumer loans, and pet insurance, is also struggling to secure a banking license in the UK, Finance Magnates reported. Moreover, the bank reportedly lost $20 million to fraudsters due to a fault in its payment systems, according to the Financial Times.

However, despite the challenges, Revolut recently surpassed 30 million users on its platform, "growing almost one million customers per month," according to Nik Storonsky, the company's Co-Founder and CEO.

Last month, the challenger bank added a robo-advisor to its super app for users in the United States. It also rolled out Joints Accounts products in the UK and expanded its financial services to New Zealand.