Jay-Z Joins The Crypto Craze

One of the best-selling musicians of all time Shawn Carter, better known as Jay-Z, via his company Arrive Venture Capital would be investing in Robinhood, the mobile stock trading app, according to the Arrive’s press release.

Robinhood, a US based financial services company, announced last month they would allow trading of Bitcoin and Ether through their platform, with no transaction fees. Though the company doesn’t plan to become a proper cryptocurrency exchange, analysts believe such a format could one day seriously challenge more well-established platforms.

The trading application is already backed by rappers Snoop Dogg and Nas, as well as musician and actor Jared Leto.

Robinhood has over three million users and is valued at USD 1.3 billion, according to the press release.

“We believe in Baiju and Vlad’s mission to make the financial markets more accessible and cost efficient for customers of all size. Robinhood will have our support as they execute the long-term vision of their company,” Arrive’s head Neil Sirni said, referencing to the app’s co-founders Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev. No further details about the investment were given.

At the time of the company’s launch last year, Sirni said that “Arrive was created to leverage our experience and resources in building brands, developing consumer-facing businesses, managing artists and representing athletes. We’ve opened that diversified, global range of expertise to a new vertical: entrepreneurs and their early stage businesses.”