Revolut Ltd. still wants to invest in its cryptocurrency offering, despite this revenue stream almost vanishing during the recent price crash, according to the fintech’s founder.
(Bloomberg) — Revolut Ltd. still wants to invest in its cryptocurrency offering, despite this revenue stream almost vanishing during the recent price crash, according to the fintech’s founder.
“It used to contribute up to 30%, 35% of revenues in 2021,” Chief Executive Officer Nikolay Storonsky said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Guy Johnson and Alix Steel. He said it was now less than 5%, “which is quite sad from my point of view. I think crypto has a lot of potential for financial systems.”
The London-based firm’s crypto team is now larger than it was two years ago as Revolut continues to improve the service that allows customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies through its app, Storonsky said. “We continue to invest in crypto.”
Bitcoin has dropped more than 70% from last year’s peak to trade around $20,000, in a crash that’s been echoed around the world’s nascent crypto markets.
Revolut, which was valued at $33 billion in a funding round last year, is one of Europe’s largest startups with statutory revenue of £222 million ($254 million) in 2020, according to filings. About 20 million customers globally use the platform for payments, trading and other wealth services.
Earlier Wednesday, Revolut announced a new instant messaging function, as part of its attempts to become Europe’s answer to lifestyle “super app” WeChat.
Storonsky said it was keeping an eye on spending, but was not looking to make dramatic savings to reflect the worsening outlook. “We always look at costs, it’s not necessarily because it’s an economic downturn,” said Storonsky. He added that Revolut, which is yet to publish its 2021 accounts, is generating gross profits.
Storonsky added that he hopes the UK is “quite close” to approving Revolut’s application for a banking license after several years of waiting.
–With assistance from Alix Steel, Guy Johnson and Aisha S Gani.
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