Bitstamp

Bitstamp is a centralized crypto exchange with an order book, a simpler Basic Trading screen, staking and lending products, crypto derivatives and services for institutions and partners. It was founded in 2011; Robinhood calls it the world's longest-running crypto exchange, quoting its CEO.

Robinhood Markets closed its acquisition of Bitstamp Ltd. on 2 June 2025 and the exchange now trades as Bitstamp by Robinhood. Robinhood said Bitstamp brought more than 50 active licences and registrations, offices in Luxembourg, the UK, Slovenia, Singapore and the US, and Robinhood's first institutional crypto business. Robinhood did not state the price in its announcement; press reports put it at about $200 million.

Bitstamp's group company is Bitstamp Ltd., registered at 5 New Street Square in London. Which subsidiary you deal with depends on where you live, and Bitstamp shows it in each account under Profile, My information. Bitstamp has no exchange token.

Retail clients trade through the Bitstamp mobile app, the web platform and Bitstamp Pro, the order-book interface, with Tradeview for charting. The app's Basic Trading mode gives a guaranteed quote with a spread built in; placing orders on the book is cheaper and charges maker and taker fees instead. Earn Stake passes on staking rewards after Bitstamp's commission, and Earn Lend lends client crypto for a return, which adds the borrower's credit risk to the exchange's own.

For businesses, Bitstamp sells an institutional offering, Bitstamp as a Service for partner businesses, crypto derivatives through its Slovenian investment firm, and tokenized assets. Robinhood said the acquisition gave it its first institutional crypto business, and some European and UK Robinhood app users now hold crypto with Bitstamp entities in the background.

The fee schedule also covers IOUs on the XRP Ledger, which cost 0.15% to move between accounts.

Bitstamp lists its licences and the entity for each region on its site. In the European Economic Area, Bitstamp Europe S.A. is authorised by Luxembourg's CSSF as a payment institution and as a MiCA crypto-asset service provider. ESMA's register shows the MiCA authorisation from 15 May 2025, covering custody, operating a trading platform, exchange of crypto for funds and other crypto, order execution, reception and transmission of orders, and transfers, passported across the EEA.

UK clients are served by Bitstamp UK Ltd., registered with the FCA for cryptoasset activity under the Money Laundering Regulations (FRN 978690). In the US, Bitstamp USA, Inc. holds a New York BitLicense, a Louisiana virtual currency licence and 41 money transmitter licences across US states, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and is registered as a money services business with FinCEN; its registered address is Robinhood's at 85 Willow Road, Menlo Park. Singapore clients deal with Bitstamp Asia Pte Ltd, a MAS major payment institution, and other regions with Bitstamp Global Ltd., a registered virtual asset service provider in the British Virgin Islands.

Derivatives are a separate business: Bitstamp Financial Services d.o.o. in Ljubljana is a MiFID investment firm supervised by Slovenia's ATVP, and derivatives are not offered in every jurisdiction. All accounts need identity verification, and corporate accounts need company documents.

Bitstamp publishes a full fee schedule. The version valid from 21 October 2026 charges 0.30% maker and 0.40% taker on order-book trades for accounts with under $10,000 of 30-day volume, falling to 0.20% and 0.30% above $10,000 and 0.10% and 0.20% above $100,000, down to 0.00% and 0.03% above $1 billion. FX and stablecoin pairs are cheaper, and USDT and RLUSD pairs cheaper still. Bitstamp has announced further changes taking effect on 24 November 2026.

Basic Trading, the guaranteed-quote screen, costs much more: a fixed spread of 1.8% on most crypto and 0.5% on stablecoins, plus a volatility spread of up to 0.5% when markets move fast. Buying with a card through Instant Purchase costs 4%. Clients who reach Bitstamp through the Robinhood app pay Robinhood's terms instead: no fee for Bitstamp UK clients and 0.95% for Bitstamp Europe clients.

A measurement this site took on 14 July 2026, under the earlier schedule, found an all-in cost of 0.30% for a $10,000 bitcoin buy and 0.3083% at $100,000, with 26.7 BTC of depth within 0.1% of the best ask.

Bitstamp's case rests on regulation and audits. It says all client crypto and fiat is held separately from corporate funds, that crypto is kept largely offline, that a Big Four accounting firm has audited it every year since 2016, and that its financial control team reconciles client funds against the records of independent third-party custodians. It holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 certifications.

What it does not publish is a proof of reserves or the name of its auditor, so a customer cannot check on their own that balances are backed. Our guide on how to check an exchange holds your money explains what an audit can and cannot show.

On insurance, Bitstamp's About page now says only that its custodians provide insurance for client assets held in cold wallets. It gives no amount and does not describe cover for hot wallets. Crypto on Bitstamp is not covered by deposit insurance or, in the UK, by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The one security breach on record dates from January 2015, when attackers emptied operational hot wallets of less than 19,000 BTC, then worth about $5 million. Bitstamp suspended service, said that bitcoin balances held before the suspension would be honoured in full, and reopened five days later on rebuilt systems, according to reports at the time. No regulator enforcement action against Bitstamp was found in the review for this update.

A Bitstamp balance is a claim on the Bitstamp entity that serves you, now part of the Robinhood group. Robinhood's ownership brings a listed parent and more capital, but customer assets sit with the regional Bitstamp entity, and the terms of that entity decide what happens in a failure. What happens if an exchange goes bankrupt explains why that wording matters.

The everyday risks are cost and change. Basic Trading and Instant Purchase are expensive compared with the order book, a dormant account held with Bitstamp Ltd. outside the US is charged 5 EUR, USD or GBP a month after six months, and Bitstamp is changing its fee schedule again in November 2026. As Robinhood folds Bitstamp into its own apps, products and fees may move between the two brands.

Opening an account requires identity verification, and the minimum order is 10 units of the quote currency (EUR, USD, GBP or a supported stablecoin) or 0.0002 BTC. SEPA and ACH deposits are free. To leave, withdraw crypto to your own wallet, paying the network and processing fee shown before you confirm, or sell and withdraw by SEPA, ACH, Faster Payments or wire. Outside the US, fiat balances below 25 EUR or USD are not returned when an account is closed, so withdraw them first.

Bitstamp's site lists [email protected] and [email protected] and three support phone numbers: +44 20 3868 9628, +1 800 712 5702 and +352 20 88 10 96. Contact Bitstamp only through these or from inside your account; numbers or social accounts found elsewhere may be impersonators, and Bitstamp staff have no reason to ask for your password or two-factor codes.

Dated milestones:

• 2011: Bitstamp founded.
• January 2015: Hot-wallet breach of less than 19,000 BTC; exchange reopens on 9 January.
• 2016: First annual audit by a Big Four firm, according to Bitstamp.
• 15 May 2025: MiCA authorisation for Bitstamp Europe S.A. from the CSSF.
• 2 June 2025: Robinhood completes its acquisition of Bitstamp Ltd.
• 21 October 2026: Current fee schedule takes effect; further changes due 24 November 2026.