From next month, Robinhood – a mobile stock trading app – will launch a new crypto-trading platform that will capitalise on the current cryptocurrency boom. Consumers will be able to use the platform to trade both bitcoin and ethereum.

The cryptocurrency community welcomed the announcement, made by Robinhood via their blog on Thursday 25. Jan. Robinhood will not charge customers for trading cryptocurrencies on their platform. Cryptocurrency traders currently pay up to 4% on other cryptocurrency trading platforms, such as Coinbase.

As well as providing the opportunity to trade bitcoin and ethereum, the platform will also allow users to track the performance of 16 other cryptocurrencies, including dash, monero, and XRP (Ripple).

A key principle underpinning the Robinhood business' ethos is the establishment of a democratised global financial system. It hopes to attract a larger customer base by creating user-friendly analytical and transactional tools, which it will provide at no cost to the user. The aim is twofold, first, to attract cryptocurrency backers to its profitable stock-market trading platform, and secondly, to attract traditional investors to cryptocurrency trading.

The new cryptocurrency platform will help to push forward their overall goal towards a democratised global financial systems and put the power "directly in the hands of the people", says Robinhood co-founder Vlad Tenev.