Betterment Adds Crypto via Makara

The Makara deal showed that Betterment was trying to turn a single product robo into a broader asset gathering machine. Betterment already made money by charging on assets under management, so adding crypto portfolios let it collect more customer dollars inside the same app and advisor workflow, instead of losing that money to Coinbase, Robinhood, or separate crypto specialists.

• Makara fit Betterment’s existing playbook. Betterment already offered automated ETF portfolios for individuals, advisors, and employers. Makara added a crypto version of that same experience, prebuilt portfolios, automatic allocation, and managed exposure, which made crypto legible to users who did not want to pick coins themselves.
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• The timing mattered because pure robo advice had become crowded and expensive to scale. Betterment and Wealthfront were two of the few pure play robos left standing as customer acquisition costs rose and incumbents like Schwab and Vanguard pushed fees down, so adjacent products were a practical way to deepen wallet share.
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• This also foreshadowed Betterment’s later expansion moves. After Makara, Betterment kept adding products that pulled in more balances and more use cases, from student loan benefits to self directed investing, while its cash accounts and core robo business continued to monetize customer assets across multiple wrappers.
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Going forward, the pattern is clear. Betterment is building toward a fuller wealth account where automated portfolios, advisor tools, self directed trading, cash, and specialized sleeves like crypto all sit in one place. The more customer assets it can keep on platform, the less vulnerable it is to fee pressure in the core robo business.