Robinhood Drops $200M on Bitstamp—Because Nothing Says ’Global Domination’ Like Buying Your Competition
Robinhood just slapped down $200 million to snag Bitstamp—because why build a crypto empire when you can buy one?
The move screams desperation dressed as ambition: a zero-fee trading app suddenly needs a real exchange to play with the big kids. Bitstamp’s EU licenses and institutional cred? Pure gold for a platform that still gets side-eyed by crypto OGs.
Wall Street’s favorite disruptor now wants a seat at the global table. Cue eye-rolls from TradFi dinosaurs and crypto anarchists alike—since when did ’democratizing finance’ mean writing checks instead of code?
Robinhood pushes into global markets
Robinhood’s crypto business is largely limited in the United States. But Bitstamp is available in Luxembourg, the UK, Slovenia, Singapore, and the US. And just like that, Robinhood gets an immediate foothold across Europe and Asia.
Robinhood said that it has already started to incorporate Bitstamp’s platform. It’s now connected to Robinhood Legend and its Smart Exchange Routing trading system for enhanced trade execution.
Bitstamp reportedly made $95 million in revenue for the 12 months ending April 30, 2025. And that’s just in the first quarter of 2025: Robinhood’s crypto business raked in $252 million.
Robinhood expects to spend an additional $65 million on Bitstamp-related expenses through the remainder of 2025, such as technology integration, marketing, and operations.
Robinhood outlines future strategy and responds to market
The Bitstamp deal isn’t Robinhood’s only move. On May 13, 2025, the company also said it would buy Canadian crypto platform WonderFi for $179 million to become a dominant player in the Canadian market.
These acquisitions are part of a larger strategy to become a global crypto powerhouse — serving individual users and professional and institutional traders.
Robinhood is also looking at the future of tokenization, where real-world assets can be tokenized into tradeable digital tokens.
CEO Vladimir Tenev once called tokenization a “massive unlock” that could enable people to invest in assets like shares of private companies — so long as they’re giants like OpenAI or SpaceX — in minutes.
He thinks this innovation could solve several of the biggest problems in secondary markets, particularly concerning private equity.
On the market side, investors were reacting favorably to the Bitstamp news. Robinhood stock (HOOD) gained 2.77% to settle at $67.98 on Wednesday and added another 0.44% in the after-hours session.
Cryptopolitan Academy: Coming Soon - A New Way to Earn Passive Income with DeFi in 2025. Learn More
