Robinhood launches crypto transfers in Europe, abroad

Retail investment platform robinhood announced on Tuesday that it is offering customers in Europe the ability to transfer cryptocurrencies to and from its app, expanding its product capabilities in the region as it continues 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 the USD currency.

The move effectively gives European Robinhood users the ability to “self-custody” their assets – meaning that instead of entrusting your cryptocurrency to a third-party platform, you can instead take ownership of it in a wallet wholly owned holding your funds.

Last December, 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 away from the platform, either to another third-party platform or to their own self-custody wallet.

Johann Kerbrat, managing director of Robinhood’s crypto unit, told CNBC that he believes the EU has the potential to become an attractive market for digital currencies, thanks to the crypto-friendly regulations adopted by the bloc.

“The EU can become a very attractive market next year,” Kerbrat said in an interview. He pointed to the EU’s landmark regulation on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA), which sets harmonized rules for the crypto sector across all 27 member states of the bloc.

Once MiCA is fully in place, Kerbrat said, every country in the EU will come under the same unified regime.

“In terms of the total addressable market, (the EU) is as big as the US,” he told CNBC, adding, “it’s 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 the tokens deposited on its platform in the form of the equivalent cryptocurrency that they transfer to Robinhood.

Robinhood is rolling out new features in the EU as US crypto firms grapple 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 disputed the SEC’s allegations, stating that the tokens traded and sold on their platforms do not qualify as securities that should be registered with the agency.

“We’re disappointed with the way the regulations are applied in the US, where it’s basically regulation by enforcement,” Kerbret told CNBC. “We’re not very 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 holds a BitLicense with the New York State Department of Financial Services.

In June, Robinhood announced it would acquire Luxembourg-based crypto platform Bitstamp to take advantage of the company’s exchange technology and further expand its global reach. The deal, which is 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 will help it gain access to even more international markets and gain coveted regulatory approvals from around the world. Bitstamp holds over 50 licenses and registrations globally, including in Singapore, the UK and the EU.

Beyond expanding globally, the Bitstamp deal is expected to help Robinhood diversify its crypto business to serve more institutional investors, Kerbrat told CNBC. For example, Bitstamp offers a “crypto-as-a-service” offering that helps banks and other financial firms 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 UK. The company launched its popular stock trading service for Britons last November. However, they do not yet currently offer crypto services to UK customers.