Robinhood acquires global crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200M

Stock trading platform Robinhood is delving deeper into the cryptocurrency world with the acquisition of crypto exchange Bitstamp.

Robinhood said it expects the deal to close in the first half of 2025 and the final transaction value to be around $200 million.

While Robinhood is known for its stock trading services that allow ordinary consumers to invest in some of the world’s largest publicly traded companies, it is moving into the crypto space with its support for many of the most popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. year restricted some of the cryptocurrencies it supported due to regulatory scrutiny in the US

More crypto and global expansion

Today’s announcement not only signals California-based Robinhood’s continued push into crypto, but also its international expansion, which began with its core stock trading product and its U.K. launch last November, followed shortly by the launch of crypto trading in the European Union It also points to their efforts. (EU).

Founded in Europe in 2011, Bitstamp is among the world’s oldest cryptocurrency exchanges and allows companies and individuals to trade all types of cryptocurrencies. It was acquired by NXMH, a Belgian investment company, in 2018, and Ripple acquired its shares last year.

Robinhood became a publicly traded entity in mid-2021, and like many firms during the pandemic, the company saw its initial good fortune disappear as the world returned to normal; The $32 billion IPO saw its valuation rise to over $40 billion. At one point, it was well below $10 billion for much of the last two years, before falling steadily.

But the company’s valuation more than doubled last year, reaching $19 billion in record earnings. In its first quarter 2024 report published in May, Robinhood said that the number of monthly active users increased by 16% annually to 13.7 million, and its revenues increased by 40% to 618 million dollars. Specifically, the company said its transaction-based revenue increased 59% to $329 million, driven primarily by cryptocurrency revenue of $126 million, up 232%.

With Bitstamp under its wing, Robinhood says it will be better positioned to target retail and institutional crypto investors in Europe, Asia, and the US, and Bitstamp currently has more than 50 licenses and registrations to operate in those markets.

“The acquisition of Bitsamp is an important step in growing our crypto business,” Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s general manager of crypto, said in a statement. said. “The Bitstamp team has built one of the strongest reputations among retail and institutional crypto investors. With this strategic combination, we are better positioned to expand our footprint outside the US and welcome institutional clients to Robinhood.”