I didn't see that coming. On Thursday, Robinhood announced it is buying long-running crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, a move that has big implications for both the company and the broader crypto industry. The deal will add four million to five million new crypto customers for Robinhood but, more significantly, it will also let the popular trading app take over the 50 or so licenses that Bitstamp has in Europe and around the world.
Before looking at whether the deal is a good idea for Robinhood, it's worth taking a minute to acknowledge Bitstamp's contribution to crypto's development. Launched in Slovenia way back in 2011—a time when the entire industry was little more than swapping Bitcoin—the exchange for a time was one of the only trusted places to do business. Bitstamp was also instrumental in establishing crypto in Europe and, along with ill-starred Mt. Gox, was one of the biggest names in crypto's frontier era. It's unlikely the exchange's founder envisioned that it would one day be bought by a Silicon Valley firm best known as a place for millennials to trade stocks but, well, business is unpredictable.
