easyGroup, the company behind easyJet and easyHotel, is entering crypto with the launch of easyBitcoin.app, a mobile platform built with Uphold to make buying and holding bitcoin simpler for retail users, the company said in a press release Tuesday.
The move comes as bitcoin trades near record highs and surveys show rising confidence in the asset. The world’s largest cryptocurrency was trading around $112,650 at publication time.
A study commissioned by Uphold found 88% of U.S. respondents trust bitcoin to grow their wealth over the next decade, with 39% ranking it among their top three investments, ahead of gold and just behind real estate. Despite this, nearly half said trading remains too complex.
easyBitcoin aims to lower barriers with incentives including a 1% welcome bonus on recurring buys, 2% annual rewards for long-term holders and 4.5% APY on USD balances paid out in bitcoin, backed by $2.5 million in FDIC insurance, the company said.
“Investing in bitcoin has felt like an exclusive club, out of reach for the general public with very high transaction costs,” said easyGroup founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, in the release. “With easyBitcoin, we want to change that.”
Uphold commissioned a survey of 1,001 U.S. respondents, aged between 25–50, all holding at least a university degree, and earning a minimum of $80,000 per annum, between June and July this year.
A U.K. version of the app is planned for later this year, easyGroup said.