Robinhood Considers Offering Cryptocurrency Futures in U.S. and Europe, Bloomberg Reports

(Reuters) – Robinhood Markets plans to offer cryptocurrency futures in the United States and Europe in the coming months, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The commission-free trading app hopes to use the licenses of cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp, which it agreed to buy last month in a $200 million deal, once the transaction closes next year, the report said.

It also wants to launch CME-based futures contracts in the US for Bitcoin and Ether.

“We have no imminent plans to launch these offerings,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.

The company’s crypto business is growing rapidly, but it also faces regulatory hurdles in the United States.

Robinhood Crypto was the engine of a massive first-quarter profit beat in May, but the same week it also revealed it had received a so-called Wells notice from the U.S. securities regulator regarding tokens traded on its platform.

The notice is issued when the regulator is considering taking enforcement action against a company.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)