Robinhood Expands Internationally with Introduction of Crypto Transfers in European Markets

What Did Robinhood Announced?

Robinhood, a retail investing platform, announced that it is expanding its product capabilities in Europe by enabling customers to transmit cryptocurrencies in and out of its app. This move is part of Robinhood’s ongoing international expansion. The company announced in a blog post on Tuesday that it will permit consumers in the European Union to deposit and withdraw over 20 digital currencies through its platform, including bitcoin, ethereum, solana, and USD coin.

The move effectively grants Robinhood’s European users the capacity to “self-custody” assets. This means that, rather than entrusting your cryptocurrency to a third-party platform, you can instead assume ownership of it in a fully owned wallet that holds your funds. Robinhood introduced its crypto trading service, Robinhood Crypto, to the European Union for the first time in December of the previous year. Users could purchase and sell cryptocurrencies through the service; however, they were prohibited from transferring them to a third-party platform or their own self-custodial container.

At present, Robinhood’s crypto trading, deposit, and withdrawal capabilities are exclusively accessible to customers in the European Union, not in the United Kingdom. In November of the previous year, the organization implemented its well-received stock trading service for British citizens. Nevertheless, it does not presently provide crypto services to clients in the United Kingdom.

Industry Comments

According to Johann Kerbrat, the general manager of Robinhood’s crypto unit, the European Union has the potential to become an appealing market for digital currencies as a result of the bloc’s adoption of crypto-friendly regulations. In an interview, Kerbrat stated, “The EU has the potential to become a highly appealing market next year.” He cited the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, a groundbreaking measure that establishes uniform regulations for the crypto sector in all 27 member states of the bloc. Kerbrat stated that all EU countries will be subject to the same unified regime once MiCA is entirely implemented.

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“The EU is as large as the U.S. in terms of total addressable market,” he stated to CNBC. He also stated, “It is certainly an intriguing market for us.” Robinhood has announced that it will provide European customers with the opportunity to receive 1% of the value of tokens deposited on its platform in the form of the equivalent cryptocurrency they transmit into Robinhood for a limited time.

Robinhood is implementing new features in the EU at a time when U.S. crypto firms are in dispute with regulators domestically. The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed lawsuits against numerous companies in the United States, including Ripple, Binance, and Coinbase, claiming that they are all engaged in the sale of unregistered securities. Each of the platforms has refuted the SEC’s allegations, asserting that the tokens that are marketed and sold on their platforms do not qualify as securities that require registration with the agency.

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In the United States, Robinhood is subject to federal regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Additionally, it maintains a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services. Robinhood announced in June that it would acquire Bitstamp, a Luxembourg-based cryptocurrency platform, in order to leverage the firm’s exchange technology and broaden its global presence. The transaction, which is anticipated to conclude in the first half of 2025, is to be valued at approximately $200 million in cash.

Kerbrat stated that the acquisition of Bitstamp would enable the company to access additional international markets and secure highly sought-after regulatory approvals worldwide. Bitstamp maintains more than 50 licenses and registrations worldwide, including those in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and the European Union. Kerbrat stated somewhere that the partnership with Bitstamp is anticipated to facilitate Robinhood’s diversification of its crypto business in order to accommodate a greater number of institutional investors, in addition to facilitating global expansion. For instance, Bitstamp provides a “crypto-as-a-service” solution that enables financial institutions and banks to establish their own crypto capabilities.