The London-based start-up has claimed that it has received a lot of feedback on its banking platform, with the possible introduction of cryptocurrencies –digital currency – repeatedly cropping up.

The alternative bank is now preparing to introduce the first phase of its cryptocurrency offering on to its platform in the next few weeks.

[caption id="attachment_2194" align="alignnone" width="350"] The Revolut app and different cryptocurrencies[/caption]

In phase one, Revolut customers will have the opportunity to buy, sell, send and spend bitcoin, ether and litecoin.

Customers will be able to instantly exchange any of Revolut's 16 fiat currencies (currency that is legal tender and whose value is backed by the government) into crypto and back at the touch of a button.

The value of the cryptocurrency will be stored in the customer's Revolut wallet in exactly the same way as the fiat currencies.

Initially, there will be two key limitations with Revolut's offering, which are:

• No external loads in crypto?—?you can, however, continue to instantly top-up via your debit/credit card and exchange into crypto.
• No external transfers in crypto?—?you can instantly send crypto to your peers on Revolut, but your balance will be first converted into fiat if you wish to transfer the balance externally.

Revolut hopes to support external transfer in the near future.

“Internally at Revolut, we've always been fascinated by the possibilities of bitcoin itself, and cryptocurrencies in general,” said Edward Cooper, chief mobile officer at Revolut.

“As early as 2015, we had actually prototyped several bitcoin solutions.

“The challenge in implementing crypto was not so much a technical challenge, but one of dealing with how bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are perceived in the financial space, and how this affects partner relationships.

“We developed our approach to bitcoin and crypto in order to make sure that none of our partners are exposed in any way to the risks traditionally associated with crypto, and to increase awareness and usage among normal users, not just crypto enthusiasts.”

Cryptocurrency is an online currency that is decentralised (not controlled by the government or authority).

Cryptocurrencies are built on top of a technological layer more commonly known as the blockchain – a distributed public ledger which securely records and facilitates irreversible peer-to-peer transactions which cannot be (easily) amended.