Robinhood's Chinese competitors want to get into the crypto frenzy by expanding into the US and Singapore - even as their local government cracks down

• Chinese apps Futu and Tiger Brokers want to add crypto trading to their platforms in the US and Singapore.
• The announcements follow a crack down from Chinese regulators on digital currencies.
• The customer base for both apps has grown in the past year, the companies reported.

Chinese trading apps Futu and Tiger Brokers are working to bring cryptocurrency trading to customers in the US and Singapore, even as regulators in their home country crack down on digital assets.

The Robinhood rivals said in their most recent earnings calls that they will apply for digital currency trading licenses in both countries. Futu also applied in Hong Kong.

"What we know for sure is that we will not offer digital currency trading services to mainland China users," said Futu Senior Vice President Robin Li Xu, according to a transcript from the Motley Fool. Tiger Brokers chief executive officer said the same, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript.

Chinese regulators and institutions have cracked down on cryptocurrencies recently. The country said it would thwart mining operations in order to reduce carbon emissions, and it even set up a reporting system for the general public to report suspected mining activity.

The People's Bank of China also said financial institutions can't use digital tokens as a form of payment.

China's announcements aided in a sell-off in cryptocurrencies last month that caused Bitcoin to fall as low as $30,000 - a more than 50% loss from its all-time high of $65,000 in April.

The retail investing app space has multiple players, like Robinhood, WeBull, Public, and others, competing for customers.

Robinhood, which opened up crypto trading in early 2018, had 13 million users at the end of 2020. Futu said it has tripled its number of users in a year to 789,652, and Tiger has doubled customers in the first quarter from a year ago to 376,000, CNBC reported, noting that both companies are increasingly focused on customers outside China.

Futu's chief financial officer told CNBC previously that the company has heard interest from users worldwide around crypto and he's listening. On the earnings call, Futu said it aimed to offer crypto trading at some point in the second half of the year.

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