Robinhood buying crytocurrency exchange Bitstamp for about $200 million

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Robinhood Markets Inc. is buying crytocurrency exchange Bitstamp for about $200 million in cash as the company looks to speed up its cryptocurrency expansion globally.

Bitstamp, founded in 2011, has offices in Luxembourg, the UK, Slovenia, Singapore, and the US. It has more than 50 active licenses and registrations worldwide and customers across the European Union, United Kingdom, United States and Asia.

Robinhood said Thursday that this will be its first institutional business.

"Bitstamp’s highly trusted and long standing global exchange has shown resilience through market cycles. By seamlessly coupling customer experience with safety across geographies, the Bitstamp team has established one of the strongest reputations across retail and institutional crypto investors,” Johann Kerbrat, general manager of Robinhood Crypto, said in a statement. “Through this strategic combination, we are better positioned to expand our footprint outside of the U.S. and welcome institutional customers to Robinhood.”

The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.

The news comes a month after Robinhood Markets announced that it had received a notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission about alleged securities violations at its crypto division.

The company said in a regulatory filing that it received investigative subpoenas from the SEC about issues including cryptocurrency listings, custody of cryptocurrencies, and platform operations.

Robinhood Crypto has cooperated with the investigation, the company said.

Shares of Robinhood Markets rose more than 2% before the market open.