"Bloomberg" quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Robinhood, an American online brokerage, is planning to use its upcoming acquisition of Bitstamp to enter the cryptocurrency futures contract market.
Robinhood Markets plans to offer CME Group-based Bitcoin and Ethereum futures in the United States and perpetual futures contracts on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Europe using a license held by Bitstamp, sources said.
Bloomberg quoted data from cryptocurrency research organization CCData as saying that in May this year alone, spot trading volume on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges reached US$1.57 trillion, while derivatives trading volume reached US$3.69 trillion.
"We have no immediate plans to launch these products," a Robinhood spokesperson told Bloomberg.
Although Robinhood's cryptocurrency unit received a "Wells Notice" from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early May, the company remained determined to expand its cryptocurrency business, and the cryptocurrency trading volume in the first quarter of this year increased. It's an increase of 224%.
Robinhood announced last month that it intends to acquire veteran cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, a deal expected to close in the first half of 2025. It is reported that Bitstamp has more than 50 licenses and registration certificates around the world. If the acquisition ultimately goes through, it would give Robinhood access to institutional-level cryptocurrency customers for the first time.
Robinhood also acquired Marex FCM in March, a company that holds the licenses needed to offer futures in the United States, Bloomberg reported.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said in an interview with "CNBC" in May this year: "The U.S. SEC clearly has the ability to change the rules and allow brokers to handle crypto assets, but they do not seem to intend to do so. Instead, they use enforcement to replace supervision. This disappointing."
We don’t want to be in this situation, but we must advocate for ourselves and our clients. We believe that cryptoassets will become increasingly important and that it is unacceptable to deny Americans access to them.
"Bloomberg": Robinhood considers offering "Bitcoin, Ethereum futures" in European and American markets> This article was first published in "Blocker".
