In an unexpected turn of events, less than three months after acquiring Bitstamp for $200 million, Robinhood noted that the crypto exchange was actually ahead of them in crypto trading volumes.
Bitstamp reported a 21% increase in crypto activity in August 2024, totaling $14.4 billion; while Robinhood reported a decrease of 18% crypto trading volumes of $13.7 billion in August 2024, according to the company’s press release.
This is a significant inflection point, given that Robinhood saw a record quarter in November 2024 (when volumes were consequently high), and has since declined in momentum. Robinhood saw a slight increase in July 2024, but volumes fell.
Strategic Role of Bitstamp in Robinhood’s Expansion
The acquisition of Bitstamp by Robinhood on June 2, 2025, effectively added more than 5,000 institutional clients and 50,000 retail customers to the user base.
The platform operates as “Bitstamp by Robinhood” now, which includes greater integration with Robinhood Legend and their Smart Exchange Routing service to enhance trade flows between the two.
Robinhood views Bitstamp as part of its long-term strategy with real-world assets tokenization, a market Robinhood is busily positioning itself to take part in.
Despite combined crypto trading volumes down 2.1% between Bitstamp and Robinhood since July, Robinhood’s total assets under custody grew 2% to $304 billion, approximately $41 million of which represents crypto holdings.
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Broader Crypto Market Stagnates Despite Exchange Activity
While Bitstamp’s growth made the company shine, in the larger crypto market, the month of August ended with the prices and overall volumes stabilized with very little movement.
Market experts highlight that Robinhood’s declining volumes of late may be seasonal, based on the slow summer holiday months in North America.
Ryan McMillin, CEO of Merkle Tree Capital, stated that trading sentiment has been “relatively quiet” as investors are waiting for clarity on potential US interest rate cuts, as it relates to weakening job and inflation data at this time.
Still, industry leaders like McMillin and CK Zheng of ZX Squared Capital remain optimistic and believe that crypto trading activity will rise in the coming months. Some expect to set new records before the year is done.
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Robinhood’s Rising Influence in Finance and Blockchain
Robinhood’s reach continues to grow and extend beyond trading volumes; not too long ago, the company made its entrance into the S&P 500 with its inclusion as one of the few crypto-active companies there.
The inclusion of the company in the S&P 500 shows how traditional finance and digital assets are increasingly intersecting.
Along those lines, Robinhood has also been introducing products with a strong blockchain focus, such as a layer-2 tokenization blockchain, which is available to EU customers, giving access to U.S. stocks for these tokenized assets.
Robinhood also offers perpetual futures trading in Europe, allowing for up to 3x leverage in these instruments, which are cleared through Bitstamp.
The use of Bitstamp confirms the link between the two platforms and positions the companies to compete more effectively in the global tokenization and cryptocurrency ecosystems.
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Rising Competition in Exchange and Derivatives Markets
The competitive landscape for crypto trading has shifted, with decentralized exchanges (DSXs) experiencing huge growth rates as well.
On August 14, BNB’s market cap surpassed $120 billion and reached an all-time high of $868 per BNB, and the volume increased by 9%, according to UnoCrypto.
By the end of August, we also reported that Hyperliquid accounted for 80% of the DEX perpetual protocol market, created more than $200 billion of trading volume, and reported approximately $1.13 billion of annual revenue.
This increase in volume highlights the fast-moving, decentralized derivatives sector, where platforms like Hyperliquid are placing incumbent centralized exchanges, such as Binance and Bitstamp, under pressure.
As more competition enters the space, initiatives like Robinhood’s acquisition of Bitstamp and related blockchain efforts may be necessary for Robinhood to retain relevance in a fragmented, high-growth crypto trading space.
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