Revolut, Europe’s most valuable fintech startup, reported a profit surge to over £1 billion for the first time in 2024. With a newly obtained UK banking license and strong growth in the crypto and wealth management sectors, the company is setting the stage for a new phase of expansion.
Revolut’s revenue rose to £3.1 billion in 2024 – driven primarily by crypto trading and wealth management. Additionally, the company received a UK banking license, enabling it to enter the lending business, as reported by the Financial Times.
Subscribe to our newsletter
The best articles of the week, directly delivered into your mailbox.
Record results driven by crypto and wealth management
Revolut owes a significant part of its success to the booming digital asset business. The wealth management division, which includes stock trading and particularly cryptocurrencies, generated around £506 million in revenue in 2024 – nearly four times as much as the previous year. This division helped Revolut achieve its first annual profit in 2021 when retail investors sought to secure a share of the crypto boom. However, in the following year, the company’s crypto-related revenues declined.
At the same time, Revolut’s customer base grew to over 50 million users worldwide, further demonstrating the increasing acceptance of fintech offerings in everyday life. Strong demand for crypto investments during the market recovery played a major role in this growth. Revolut thus established itself as one of the leading providers in the digital financial services sector.
Banking license paves way for expansion into lending
Another milestone for Revolut was obtaining a UK banking license after a three-year review process. This will allow the company to offer traditional banking products such as mortgages and consumer loans in the future.
Currently, Revolut’s loan portfolio still represents a relatively small part of the business, with outstanding loans totaling around £979 million. Nevertheless, the license signals a clear ambition to compete with established major banks over the long term and to broaden its revenue base.
The next step: Revolut plans global expansion and aims to reach 100 million daily active users. The company’s goal is to evolve from a pure payments provider into a fully-fledged international universal bank.
