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Robinhood has launched crypto trading in the UK, giving eligible customers access to more than 50 digital assets in the Robinhood app.
The rollout begins this week, adding cryptocurrency to the company's stocks and shares ISA, equities, options and futures offering in the same app. Trading is provided through Bitstamp UK, which is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority as a cryptoasset service provider.
UK customers will be able to trade tokens including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Hyperliquid. Robinhood will not charge trading, account maintenance or custody fees for the product, although customers will pay a 0.10% foreign exchange fee and a 0.30% weekend foreign exchange fee on certain conversions.
The move broadens Robinhood's UK business as it expands beyond share dealing. Crypto remains a contested area for retail investment platforms in Britain, where regulators have pushed for tighter oversight of marketing and consumer protections even as demand for digital assets has persisted.
Jordan Sinclair, President of Robinhood UK and GM of Bitstamp UK, linked the launch to changing investor behaviour.
"A new wave of UK investors sees digital assets as an important part of a diversified portfolio," said Jordan Sinclair, President of Robinhood U.K. Ltd and GM of Bitstamp UK Ltd.
"With today's launch, we're taking another major step toward becoming the all-in-one investment platform for the UK," Sinclair said.
AI feature
Alongside the trading launch, Robinhood is extending its Cortex Digests product to crypto. The feature uses generative AI to combine news, market data, technical indicators and Robinhood's own insights to explain price movements in individual digital assets.
The tool is intended to present market context in plain English. That reflects a broader push by investment platforms to use AI-based summaries and prompts to help retail users navigate markets that can move quickly and are often driven by fragmented information.
Chain expansion
Robinhood also used the launch to highlight the growth of Robinhood Chain, its Layer 2 blockchain built on Arbitrum. UK developers can build on the network, which Robinhood describes as part of its on-chain ecosystem.
According to Robinhood, the chain has generated more than USD $18 billion in decentralised exchange trading volume since its global launch and has passed USD $840 million in total value locked. Earlier summary figures from the company put those totals at more than USD $16 billion in trading volume and above USD $800 million in total value locked.
The group said the blockchain is permissionless and designed for financial services and tokenised real-world assets. It also noted that Robinhood UK does not provide the chain and is not authorised or regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Support and education
To support the crypto rollout, Robinhood is continuing to add educational material to Robinhood Learn and its Help Centre. The app also includes round-the-clock chat support for customers.
The emphasis on education is notable because crypto trading in the UK sits outside some of the protections available for other financial products. Robinhood said cryptocurrency held through Bitstamp UK is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service, and that buying and selling crypto involves risks, including the loss of principal.
For Robinhood, the UK launch marks another step in building out a local product set that mirrors more of its broader investment offering. For British users, it brings crypto into the same interface as other investments as platforms compete to offer a wider mix of assets, tools and support in a single app.