Crypto Exchange FTX Digs Into Stock Trading Alongside Its Coin Game

With crypto rates for most coins tanking in recent weeks, at least one crypto exchange is considering that old-school stock trading brokering could be a good option for its users who aren’t just looking for “HODL”. You know, the good old “stable”, “reliable,” and always “fair” stock market (yes, it’s sarcasm) compared to those newfangled, volatile digital currencies.

A limited number of US users of the crypto exchange FTX.US were allowed to use a stock trading service on Thursday. The business plans to open the service to all US users within a few months. Customers are limited in stock options for a few companies, including Apple, Visa, and others.

FTX’s pick is an interesting one given the amount of fire the Robinhood app received for its failed handling of the Gamestop short-circuit affair last year and based on an interview with Brett Harrison, president of FTX.US, the Wall Street Journal first reported that the platform would offer commission-free online trading, similar to existing systems such as Robinhood and Block’s Cash App. Unlike other online trading platforms, FTX plans not to route client orders to traders, a controversial systetechniqueed “order flow payment”.

Harrison told the Journal that they did not initially expect to profit from this new service. Still, the president of FTX.US told Fortune that they see “a huge advantage” in having crypto and stock trading instead. They also expect to break into futures trading.

The $US8 ($11) billion FTX.US was founded by 30-year-old asset-trading billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, who recently said the bitcoin network “has no future” as a form of payment in an interview, With the Financial Times.

But the wild-haired founder also announced in Securities and Exchange Commission filings last week that he had bought a nearly 8% stake in Robinhood worth almost $482 million ($669), bolstering the stock price of the flailing company. . While he has previously said he has no intention of influencing Robinhood’s decision-making even with the suspicious timing, Bankman-Fried has become known for trying to set rules within the crypto trading space, and perhaps looking at traditional ones. Stocks as a way to create a more centralized crypto backbone.

But with the stock market not doing very well right now, the rollout timing is even more curious. The S&P 500 is down more than 16% and is approaching a bear market, marking pessimism for the future economic outlook. Major tech companies, which have been the most profitable in the world for years, have been hit hard in their first-quarter earnings reports.

Everyone seems to want to get into crypto these days, including Napster. Robinhood and Block introduced crypto trading and traditional stocks later in life, but FTX is taking the opposite. The platform had already broken into derivatives and NFTs. Still, the company will face competition from big names like Fidelity and Charles Schwab, who have recently entered the online trading scene.