Robinhood launches crypto transfers in Europe as it pushes overseas expansion
Retail investing platform Robinhood is setting sights on an EU expansion as part of broader plans to increase its global foothold.
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Robinhood, a popular retail investing platform, has announced a significant expansion of its services in Europe by allowing customers to transfer cryptocurrencies in and out of its app. This move enables European users to take full ownership of their cryptocurrencies, also known as "self-custody," by storing them in a fully owned wallet rather than entrusting them to a third-party platform.
The company will now allow customers in the European Union to deposit and withdraw over 20 digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and USD Coin. This expansion builds upon its existing crypto trading service, Robinhood Crypto, which was launched in the EU in December 2022.
Johann Kerbrat, General manager of Robinhood's Crypto unit, believes that the EU has the potential to become an attractive market for digital currencies due to the adoption of crypto-friendly regulations, such as the markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. Once MiCA is fully in place, every EU country will fall under the same unified regime, making it an attractive market for Robinhood.
To incentivize European customers to transfer their cryptocurrencies to Robinhood, the company is offering a limited-time promotion. For a limited time, customers will receive 1% of the value of tokens deposited on its platform back in the form of the equivalent cryptocurrency they transfer into Robinhood.
Robinhood's expansion in the EU comes at a time when US crypto firms are facing regulatory challenges. The company is regulated by the SEC and FINRA in the US and holds a BitLicense with the New York State Department of financial services.
In June, Robinhood announced that it would acquire Luxembourg-based crypto platform Bitstamp to expand its reach globally and gain access to more international markets and regulatory permissions. The deal, valued at approximately $200 million, is expected to close in the first half of 2025.
The acquisition of Bitstamp is expected to help Robinhood diversify its crypto business to serve more institutional investors and expand its services to new markets. Bitstamp offers a "crypto-as-a-service" offering that helps banks and other financial firms launch their own crypto capabilities.
It's worth noting that Robinhood's crypto trading, deposit, and withdrawal functionality are currently only available to customers in the European Union, not in the UK. The company launched its popular stock trading service to Brits in November 2022, but does not yet offer crypto services to UK clients.
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