tl;dr
Robinhood Markets Inc. plans to launch its crypto services in Singapore by late 2025 after acquiring Bitstamp in a $200 million deal. The move aims to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region and tap into Singapore's growing role as a digital assets hub. The acquisition of Bitstamp, which hold...
Robinhood Markets Inc. plans to launch its crypto services in Singapore by late 2025 after acquiring Bitstamp in a $200 million deal. The move aims to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region and tap into Singapore's growing role as a digital assets hub. The acquisition of Bitstamp, which holds licenses in Singapore and several European countries, is part of Robinhood's strategy to diversify its revenue by adding traditional financial products. The company's CEO announced plans to serve customers across Asia, and its crypto business reported a 700% increase in trading revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024. Robinhood's stock rose by 2.32% on Tuesday, trading at $65.23.
Trading platform Robinhood Markets Inc. aims to launch its crypto services in Singapore by late 2025, following its acquisition of European digital-assets exchange Bitstamp in a $200 million deal completed in June 2024. Johann Kerbrat, Vice President and General Manager of Robinhood Crypto, told Bloomberg that the company plans to roll out its crypto services in Singapore after completing the Bitstamp acquisition in the first half of 2025. The move will expand Robinhood’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region, tapping into Singapore’s ballooning role as a digital assets hub. Robinhood is stepping into the Asian market just as the global crypto space hits new highs—topping $3.2 trillion by January's end as per CoinGecko data—fueled by a rush of adoption and institutional investor interest. While Robinhood has yet to set a specific launch date, Kerbrat said that Bitstamp’s licenses in Singapore were a key reason behind the acquisition. “Part of the reason why Bitstamp was attractive was because of their licenses with Singapore, in addition to its institutional business,” he said, citing the exchange’s in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the country’s Payment Services Act. The world’s longest-running crypto exchange also holds licenses in several European countries, including Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and France. Robinhood is also targeting further expansion in Asia by acquiring brokerage licenses, allowing the company to diversify its revenue by adding traditional financial products such as equity trading to its suite of digital asset services. The California-based brokerage platform’s shift into Singapore is part of its global expansion strategy, which includes establishing its regional headquarters in the city-state. The announcement was made last December, with CEO Vlad Tenev noting that, “We plan to be serving customers across Asia soon.” The company’s crypto business reported a 700% increase in crypto trading revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024. The surge in revenue was part of Robinhood’s overall success, with the company surpassing Wall Street’s expectations and posting total revenue of over $1 billion for the quarter. Crypto trading accounted for over a third of the company’s transaction-based revenue, pointing to the rising significance of crypto in Robinhood’s bottom line. Robinhood’s stock rose by 2.32% on Tuesday, trading at $65.23, according to Google Finance data.