Retail investment platform Robinhood announced Tuesday that it is offering customers in Europe the ability to transfer cryptocurrencies in and out of its app, expanding its product capabilities in the region as it continues its international expansion.
In a blog post on Tuesday, the company said it will allow customers in the European Union to deposit and withdraw more than 20 digital currencies through its platform, including bitcoin, ethereum, solana and USD coins.
This move essentially gives Robinhood’s European users the ability to ‘self-custody’ assets – meaning that, instead of entrusting your cryptocurrency to a third-party platform, you can instead own it in a full wallet where your money is located.
In December last year, Robinhood first launched its crypto trading service, Robinhood Crypto, in the EU. The service allowed users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, but not move them off the platform, either to another third-party platform, or to their own wallets.
Johann Kerbrat, managing director of Robinhood’s crypto unit, told CNBC that he thinks the EU has the potential to become an attractive digital currency market, thanks to the crypto-friendly regulations being adopted by the bloc.
“The EU could become a very attractive market next year,” Kerbrat said in an interview. He pointed to the EU’s historic Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations, which set harmonized rules for the crypto sector across all 27 member states of the bloc.
Once MiCA is fully installed, every EU country will fall under the same unified regime, Kerbrat said.
“In terms of the total addressable market, [the EU] is as big as the US,” he told CNBC, adding: “It is definitely an interesting market for us.”
Robinhood added that for a limited time, the company will offer European customers the opportunity to get back 1% of the value of tokens deposited on its platform in the form of the equivalent cryptocurrency they transfer to Robinhood.
Robinhood is introducing new features in the EU at a time when US crypto companies are sparring with regulators at home. In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission has sued several companies, including Coinbase, Binance and Ripple, over claims that they all trade in unregistered securities.
Each of the platforms has disputed the SEC’s allegations and determined that tokens marketed and sold on their platforms do not count as securities subject to registration with the agency.
“We are disappointed with the way US regulation is happening, which is really about regulation by enforcement,” Kerbret told CNBC. “We’re not super happy to see that.”
Robinhood is regulated by the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) at the federal level in the US. It also has a BitLicense with the New York State Department of Financial Services.
Bitstamp deal
In June, Robinhood announced it would acquire Luxembourg-based crypto platform Bitstamp to capitalize on the company’s exchange technology and further expand its reach globally. The deal, valued at approximately $200 million in cash, is expected to close in the first half of 2025.
Kerbrat said the company’s deal to buy Bitstamp would help it access even more international markets and gain coveted regulatory clearances around the world. Bitstamp has more than 50 licenses and registrations worldwide, including in Singapore, the United Kingdom and the EU.
In addition to the global expansion, the deal with Bitstamp is also expected to help Robinhood diversify its crypto business to serve more institutional investors, Kerbrat told CNBC. Bitstamp, for example, offers a “crypto-as-a-service” offering that allows banks and other financial companies to launch their own crypto capabilities.
Robinhood’s crypto trading, deposit, and withdrawal functionality is currently only available to customers in the European Union, not the United Kingdom. The company launched its popular stock trading service to Brits in November last year. However, it does not currently offer crypto services to UK customers.