Revolut, a fintech company with a $33 billion valuation that offers cryptocurrency buying as part of its services, is looking to launch its own cryptographic token, according to two people with knowledge of the plans.
One of the people CoinDesk spoke with said Revolut is working on something like an exchange token, such as Binance’s BNB, as opposed to creating a stablecoin.
“It’s a ‘Revolut users earn a token’ type of thing, similar to Wirex and Nexo,” the person said, referring to the card issuer’s WXT token and the crypto lender’s NEXO, respectively.
In terms of the timing of a Revolut token launch, the source said this is subject to approval from the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A second source said Revolut’s token launch plans were focused on Europe and other locations outside the U.S. for the time being.
Revolut declined to comment.
Relative to the other large fintech players dabbling in crypto, launching a token would seem to set Revolut apart from the pack.
London-based Revolut recently announced it would be paying a WeWork membership in Dallas, Texas, in bitcoin. The firm, which already holds a European Union banking license, also announced it had secured a U.S. broker-dealer license in order to compete in the retail capital markets space with firms like Robinhood.
Similar to rivals like Robinhood and PayPal, Revolut added the means to buy and hold a variety of cryptocurrencies within its fintech and banking app, but without the sort of functionality afforded to users who buy and trade on crypto exchanges.
Revolut now has more than 16 million customers worldwide and sees over 150 million transactions per month. The firm has been an enthusiastic supporter of cryptocurrency and offers users exposure to over 50 tokens.
Ian Allison is a senior reporter at CoinDesk.
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