The UK was a target market for Robinhood for a long time, especially with a number of other companies also offering commission-free stock trading. That included Revolut, Freetrade and Trading 212, amongst others, all of which offered a similar sort of service in the market.

Robinhood markets itself as a zero-fee stock-trading app which also lets you trade cryptocurrencies where allowed. In 2020, however, it has been beset by a series of crises that have eroded trust in its platform and led to real-world tragedy. In March, a series of unplanned outages prevented people from selling stocks during a banner trading day at the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns. That led to frustrated traders being offered free premium service and, potentially, refunds as teams worked to resolve the issue.

And then, in June, a 20-year-old Robinhood trader died by suicide after the app incorrectly told him he was $730,000 in the red. In a statement, co-CEOs Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt expressed their condolences and pledged to fix the app, as well as offer education and training, to ensure history didn’t repeat itself. In addition, Robinhood made a $250,000 donation to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.