BRD, a mobile cryptocurrency wallet, announced recently that its users are more than six million globally. It attributes this upsurge to the immense growth of crypto use in Latin America and India. Following this momentum, the organization hopes to arrive at 10 million clients by mid-2021.
Founded in 2015, Zurich-based BRDÂ also said it currently receives about one million new users every two months. Initially, it took them more than four years to get one million users. The beginning of July saw 550,000 monthly active users on BRD.Â
Cryptocurrency Growth Due to COVID-19
Co-founder and chief executive officer Adam Traidman credits the expanded enthusiasm for cryptocurrency, particularly among first-time clients, to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that as a result, many people who are staying at home and seeking refuge are rethinking basic questions about their lives and families.
In the last six months, people have had more time to review their investments. As a result, they found that cryptocurrencies, in general, grew, but the BRD business, in particular, also grew along.
He added that BRD, which has raised $ 55 million from investors such as SBI Crypto Investment and East Ventures, has two main user groups. The first is millennials who have usable income investing in apps like Robinhood instead of traditional brokerage services.Â
The second group faces more financial downsides due to the pandemic. They are the people turning to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to deal with currency fluctuations in their country. Furthermore, cryptos offer a cheaper alternative to international bank transfers to send money to family members. The decline in bank interest rates has also made many people consider alternative places to invest their money.
Global Use of BRD
While Bitcoin and Ethereum are still the most popular purchases from BRD, there is growing interest in stable coins pegged to the US dollar in countries with volatile currency fluctuations such as Venezuela, Argentina, and India. The company is also seeing greater acceptance in Eastern European countries.
BRD is a non-custodial wallet, and cryptocurrency is stored on users’ devices, making it more accessible in countries with lengthy registration procedures to use custody portfolios. The app also allows users to use Apple Pay or their bank card to buy cryptocurrency; that ease of use is one reason it’s growing, says Traidman.
The company’s most recent funding announcement is the $ 15 million Series B, which was in January 2019 to expand into Asian markets. BRD also offers a blockchain tool for businesses called a Blockset. Its current use is in cryptocurrency storage, which is the equivalent of about 6 billion US dollars.
