After a 12-month wait, the all-cash deal’s completion provides 50-plus licences, 4 million clients, and an institutional income line to Robinhood’s arsenal.
Robinhood has closed its year-long, $200 million takeover of Bitstamp, one of many world’s oldest crypto exchanges, catapulting the California fintech from a largely U.S. participant right into a regulator-blessed world heavyweight in a single day.
“Bitstamp is now a part of Robinhood, including a globally-scaled crypto alternate and our first-ever institutional crypto enterprise,” chief government Vlad Tenev mentioned because the deal was declared full on Tuesday.
“Bitstamp workforce has established one of many strongest reputations throughout retail and institutional crypto buyers. By way of this strategic mixture, we’re higher positioned to develop our footprint exterior of the US and welcome institutional clients to Robinhood.”
— JB Graftieaux, Bitstamp CEO
Why this issues
- On the spot passporting – The acquisition drops greater than 50 lively licences throughout Europe, Asia, and the U.S. straight into Robinhood’s stack, approvals that will have taken years to win organically.
- Broader product menu – Robinhood can now provide 85+ listed cash, staking, and lending merchandise, far past the 15 tokens out there in its U.S. app.
- First institutional foothold – Bitstamp’s white-label custody and “Bitstamp-as-a-Service” desks open a higher-margin buyer section for Robinhood at a time when charge stress on retail buying and selling is intensifying.
- Regulatory clouds clear – The U.S. Securities and Change Fee closed a long-running probe into Robinhood Crypto in February, eradicating the ultimate roadblock to the merger.
Deal phrases & funding
Introduced on 6 June 2024, the transaction remained unchanged: $200 million in money, no inventory element, topic to customary closing changes. Robinhood tapped its balance-sheet battle chest, bolstered by 5 consecutive worthwhile quarters, to pay out, signalling confidence within the crypto upswing and in its personal cash-generation engine.
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 6 Jun 2024 | Robinhood broadcasts intent to purchase Bitstamp for $200M money. |
| 24 Feb 2025 | SEC closes investigation into Robinhood Crypto with no enforcement motion. |
| 30 Apr 2025 | Robinhood posts document Q1 crypto income of $146M (+16 % QoQ). |
| 3 Jun 2025 | Deal closes; Bitstamp turns into a wholly-owned subsidiary. |
Strategic calculus
- Licence seize. Underneath Europe’s Markets-in-Crypto-Property (MiCA) regime, regional approvals could be “passported” throughout the bloc; shopping for Bitstamp shortcuts years of paperwork instantly unlocks 27 EU international locations.
- Product growth. Bitstamp lists 85+ belongings and operates lending, staking, and white-label custody; Robinhood has hinted it’ll “selectively” port these into its U.S. app as soon as regulatory readability improves.
- Institutional revenues. Roughly 1 / 4 of Bitstamp’s buying and selling volumes come from high-frequency market-makers and household places of work, a brand new, stickier income stream for Robinhood, which depends closely on retail order-flow funds at dwelling.
“This partnership brings a globally scaled crypto alternate to Robinhood with clients throughout the EU, UK, US and Asia.
Importantly, this acquisition introduces Robinhood’s first institutional crypto enterprise.”
— Johann Kerbrat, GM Robinhood Crypto
Aggressive panorama
Coinbase has held an Irish e-money licence since 2019 and designated Dublin as its MiCA hub in late 2023. It’s making ready a single CASP utility, permitting it to supply passport providers throughout the EU.
Kraken has opted for licences over acquisitions. In September 2023, it additionally secured an e-money licence in Eire and a digital asset service supplier (VASP) registration within the Netherlands in early 2024, two of Europe’s most lively crypto markets. These authorisations give Kraken compliant fiat rails with no need to purchase infrastructure outright.
Binance stays on the defensive in Europe. Belgium’s FSMA banned its providers in June 2023, citing a scarcity of authorised EU presence, and French prosecutors launched a proper probe into alleged cash laundering and aggravated fraud in January 2025. The regulatory drag has left a vacuum that Robinhood, with Bitstamp’s 50-plus lively registrations, is now poised to use.
| Metric | New determine | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Licences/registrations | 50-plus | Throughout the EU, UK, U.S., and Asia |
| Tradable belongings | 85+ cash | Up from 15 on Robinhood U.S. |
| Bitstamp each day spot quantity | ≈ $230M | CryptoCompare knowledge |
| Robinhood Q1 2025 crypto income | $252M | Up 100% |
By writing a $200 million cheque, Robinhood leapfrogs years of regulatory slog, plugging itself straight into Europe’s MiCA period and gaining a ready-made institutional enterprise.
The race is to combine easily and persuade each Bitstamp die-hards and Robinhood loyalists {that a} trans-Atlantic, one-stop crypto store can ship on its promise.
