- Investing app Acorns now enables users to invest in bitcoin.
- Users can invest up to 5% of their Acorns portfolio in the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF.
- Acorns plans to add other cryptocurrencies in the future.
Millennials have been crowding around crypto investing, and micro investment platform Acorns has taken notice. The California-based company launched an option this week that will enable its 4.6 million subscribers to add bitcoin to their investment portfolios.
“We’ve always been open-minded and flexible to the idea that as other asset classes mature and become something that we can deliver to customers, we would love to include that in the appropriate way,” said Acorns Chief Investment Officer Seth Wunder in an interview with CoinDesk. “Cryptocurrency, specifically bitcoin, in our opinion has gotten to that place where it’s an acceptable piece of people’s portfolios.”
Acorns was founded in 2012 to offer an approachable way for young investors to start investing. The company’s platform automatically invests users’ spare change and allows them to deposits as low as $5 into its five ETF diversified portfolios. Starting today, users can opt to invest up to 5% of their Acorns portfolio in the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, a futures fund that debuted on the New York Stock Exchange last year.
This move comes four years after Acorn competitor Robinhood launched Bitcoin and Ethereum trading on its platform. Robinhood, a stock brokerage startup that was founded in 2013, enables its users to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dogecoin. Acorns plans to add other cryptocurrencies in the future, but there is no word on exact timing.
Earlier this month, Acorns closed a $300 million funding round led by private equity firm TPG. The investment valued Acorns at close to $2 billion. Noah Kerner is CEO.
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