Robinhood Acquires Bitstamp for $200 Million
It’s all over the news: stock trading platform Robinhood has now acquired the Bitstamp crypto trading platform for a cool $200 million. But why did Robinhood buy Bitstamp? And what does this mean for users?
We have been keeping an eye on this deal as it goes through, and although it is still in the early days, we do have some information. So read on to discover the ins, outs, and reasons behind the Robinhood Bitstamp acquisition.
Why Did Robinhood Buy Bitstamp?
Although Robinhood has long been known for its traditional stock trading options, they have been salivating to move into the cryptocurrency markets. While they have, with about 43% of their daily transactions in crypto, they have struggled to surpass the widespread reach of their competitors, Binance and Coinbase. As such, they began looking for companies to acquire to give them a larger chance at competing in the often challenging cryptocurrency market.
Bitstamp was one of the earliest cryptocurrency trading platforms, however, in recent years, it, like Robinhood, has lagged far behind Coinbase and Binance—both of which are currently the largest players in the space. Much of their patronage is thanks to one thing: their large number of US customers. While both have faced legal challenges in the past few years, they are expected to pull through under the new US administration.
But this US factor is exactly what made Bitstamp attractive to an American buyer like Robinhood. Bitstamp is based in Luxembourg in the EU, and they hold a local payment license. This payment license, which takes time to acquire, will allow Robinhood to transact with residents in numerous EU countries, without having to go through the process of attaining the license itself.
Not only that, but Bitstamp is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, and has an in-principle approval from Singapore, allowing them to take on customers in Asia. But that isn’t all, as Bitstamp actually holds a total of 50 international financial licenses.
Basically, without actually saying it, we highly suspect that Robinhood purchased Bitstamp solely for these licenses and the ability to expand within the European and Asian markets—something which is difficult to do without a huge up-front investment of time, manpower, and money.
So why did Robinhood buy Bitstamp? They wanted to expand into international markets with ease, without needing to start at the baseline. Pretty smart if you ask us.
When Did Robinhood Buy Bitstamp?
The deal between Robinhood and Bitstamp closed on June 2nd, 2025, but like most acquisitions of this size, we suspect it will take months, maybe even a whole year (or more) until users begin to see anything different.
Additionally, in this case, we aren’t sure if there really will be many changes other than Robinhood having directions on their site for using Bitstamp. Though this was an acquisition, we suspect Robinhood won’t totally dismantle Bitstamp, as this could disrupt the financial licenses they paid so much for.
Rather, we suspect both will continue operating as is with one pool of shared profits (though those at the C-suite level at Bitstamp will likely be let go of, of course). We could be wrong, though, as we don’t have a crystal ball, so don’t take our word for it.
**Bitstamp website already has Robinhood below the logo, though we so no further changes as of yet.
How Much Did Robinhood Pay for Bitstamp?
Robinhood purchased Bitstamp for an impressive $200 million. We suspect this money is being split among the high-level C-suites currently at Bitstamp, as most of them are now without a job.
We do want to mention that this is Robinhood’s second acquisition this year, as they also entered into an agreement in May with the Canadian-based WonderFi platform for an estimated $178.98 million USD ($250 million in CAD).
What Does the Robinhood Bitstamp Acquisition Mean for Users?
In all of the articles we reviewed, there is no immediate changes coming to either platform as a result of the two Robinhood acquisitions. While we do expect there will eventually be some shifts in design, we expect that this acquisition was more of an on-paper one—meaning it was done so that Robinhood can access more customers. We don’t believe it was done maliciously to put the other company out of business.
Of course, this is just all conjecture, so while nothing is changing yet, keep your eyes and ears on the news as this year progresses. But if you are a current user, nothing is changing to either the Bitstamp or Robinhood platforms yet—besides the addition of the Robinhood name to the Bitstamp logo.
Are Large Crypto Trading Platform Acquisitions Good?
In general, a large cross-border acquisition like this, is good for companies and consumers. But that is because this acquisition had to do with foreign financial regulations. Typically, one large mega corporation acquiring another is not good news for users.
This is because competition is absorbed in situations like this, meaning the resulting larger company can charge higher fees for the same services. In the cryptocurrency world, Robinhood buying Bitstamp barely makes any waves, so we are happy for users of both platforms. But of course, the same couldn’t be said if it were Binance and Coinbase merging.
Overall, competition in any market is good, as it allows the market to rely on supply and demand when it comes to setting prices for services. But in flooded markets, like crypto trading, a merger can also be good, allowing the users of both platforms access to more services for the same fee.
We hope that Robinhood is almost finished with their spending spree though, because while we support them expanding on a global scale, we also don’t want to eliminate too much competition in the cryptocurrency world—and this will never change. Either way, we are happy for all of these companies and look forward to what cryptocurrency trading options can offer users in the future.
