Robinhood Doubles Down on Crypto Futures—Here’s Why Traders Are Buzzing in 2025

Robinhood just cranked up the heat on its crypto futures offering—and Wall Street's old guard is sweating bullets. The zero-commission pioneer, once dismissed as a 'meme-stock playground,' is now gunning for institutional liquidity with leveraged derivatives. No IPO hype, no celebrity tokens—just cold, hard contracts that actually let traders hedge instead of YOLO-ing into Dogecoin.

Who needs a seat at the NYSE when your phone can front-run the CME?

The move signals a ruthless pivot: Robinhood's ditching its amateur-hour reputation by embracing the very instruments that make traditional finance guys wet their pants. Volatility? Bring it on. Regulatory side-eye? Part of the breakfast menu now. One thing's clear—the kids aren't just playing with pocket money anymore.

(And yes, we see you, Goldman Sachs—still charging 2% fees for 'bespoke crypto exposure' like it's 2017.)

Robinhood expands on crypto futures launched earlier this year

Introducing these new futures comes on top of Robinhood’s derivatives products already on the market. In early 2024, Robinhood introduced crypto futures, with Bitcoin and ethereum the first to be offered. Those were followed by micro Bitcoin and Friday futures — weekly contracts designed to capture Friday price volatility.

The new XRP and Solana futures offer Robinhood’s futures to four crypto assets. XRP and Solana are two of the most actively traded altcoins on the market. Their debut is an indication that there is an appetite for more diverse crypto derivatives than just bitcoin and Ethereum.

Robinhood’s crypto futures contracts are fully cash-settled, so no actual crypto is delivered. This gives traders exposure to price without taking responsibility for wallets or custody.

The company has also slowly stepped up its futures offerings beyond crypto. The firm now enables trading in futures tied to indices, currencies, and commodities — all part of an overall shift to become a one-stop shop for modern investing.

Robinhood pushes global expansion after Bitstamp acquisition

And Robinhood’s push into crypto is also part of its broader global strategy. Previously, in June, it finalized its purchase of Bitstamp, one of the world’s oldest, most respected crypto exchanges, for about $200 million.

Bitstamp has a solid infrastructure, a growing international customer base, and relevant regulatory licenses in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere. Robinhood received over 50 active licenses and registrations with the acquisition, equipped to expand its crypto operations outside the US.

This is largely interpreted as a reaction to increasing competition in the global crypto sector. Large exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance have widened internationally, especially in more crypto-friendly regulatory environments.

Robinhood is also considering the purchase of WonderFi, a Canadian digital asset platform backed by the investor and entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary. This particular takeover WOULD further solidify their footprint in Canada and bring some DeFi to their existing offerings.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has been emphatic that his company views crypto as a long-term growth focus. Lately, he has described Robinhood’s vision to become a “financial super app” that does everything from stock trading to banking, crypto, and financial education.

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