Bitstamp review: fees, MiCA licence and Robinhood ownership

Which topics should we dive deeper into?

Select what genuinely interests you. Your picks feed directly into our editorial planning.

Crypto news that's actually worth your time.

Weekly. 60 seconds. Carefully curated by our editors: no hype, no promo flood, no spam.

Bitstamp is a crypto exchange whose EU company is based in Luxembourg and which has belonged to US broker Robinhood since June 2025. In the order book, entry-level fees are 0.30 percent as a maker and 0.40 percent as a taker; a SEPA deposit is free and a SEPA withdrawal costs €3. Luxembourg's financial regulator CSSF granted Bitstamp Europe S.A. authorisation under the EU's MiCA regulation on May 15, 2025, which also applies in Germany.

This profile explains who is behind the exchange, how fees differ depending on the way you trade, which services the MiCA licence covers and what investors in Germany should consider on custody and tax. If you want to buy Bitcoin or Ether on a regulated exchange, you will find the figures here to compare it with other providers.

What is Bitstamp? The crypto exchange from Slovenia, headquartered in Luxembourg

Bitstamp was founded in Slovenia in 2011, making it one of the oldest cryptocurrency trading venues still operating today. At the start it dealt almost exclusively in Bitcoin against the dollar and the euro. Today the exchange lists more than a hundred coins and tokens, including Ethereum, XRP, Solana and the major stablecoins.

A crypto exchange in the narrow sense runs an order book: buyers and sellers place orders with a price and quantity, and the exchange matches orders that fit. A broker, by contrast, usually sells you the coin itself at a fixed price with a mark-up. Bitstamp offers both routes, and that is exactly what determines the costs, as the sections on fees show.

The group has offices in Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Singapore and the United States. EU customers are served by Bitstamp Europe S.A., based on Avenue Monterey in Luxembourg. Besides retail customers, the exchange serves institutional traders through application programming interfaces, known as APIs, which funds and market makers use to submit their orders automatically.

Its history also includes a hack: in January 2015, attackers stole around 19,000 Bitcoin from one of the exchange's online wallets, then worth about $5 million. Bitstamp suspended trading for several days and then overhauled its custody. Since then, most customer funds have been held in cold storage, meaning on computers with no connection to the internet.

Robinhood as owner: the $200 million acquisition

In June 2024, US broker Robinhood announced it would acquire Bitstamp. The deal closed on June 2, 2025, with Robinhood paying around $200 million in cash. In its announcement on completion, Robinhood cites more than 50 active licences and registrations that came into the group with Bitstamp and describes the institutional business as its first step into that market.

For customers in Germany, the change of ownership cuts both ways. Robinhood is listed on Nasdaq and, as a listed company, must publish quarterly results, which makes the parent's financial position transparent. At the same time, your contractual partner remains the Luxembourg company. Since the takeover, the brand has operated as "Bitstamp by Robinhood".

Robinhood has a clear aim with the purchase: until then the broker was active mainly in the United States, and it is using Bitstamp's licences to expand its crypto business in Europe and Asia.

Bitstamp's MiCA licence: CSSF authorisation with a passport for Germany

MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) is the EU regulation that, since the end of 2024, has governed who may trade and hold crypto assets on behalf of customers. A provider with this authorisation is called a crypto-asset service provider, or CASP. Since the last transitional periods ended on July 1, 2026, every provider serving customers in the EU needs such a licence. Our overview of the MiCA licence and the obligations for crypto companies explains the requirements in detail.

In the register of the European Securities and Markets Authority ESMA, accessible via ESMA's MiCA page, Bitstamp Europe S.A. is listed with authorisation from the CSSF dated May 15, 2025. That made Bitstamp the first crypto-asset service provider Luxembourg authorised under MiCA. The licence covers seven services:

Custody and administration of crypto assets on behalf of clients
Operation of a trading platform for crypto assets
Exchange of crypto assets for euros or other currencies
Exchange of crypto assets for other crypto assets
Execution of orders on behalf of clients
Reception and transmission of orders
Transfer services for crypto assets

Under the so-called EU passport, an authorisation from one member state may be used in other countries without a second licence being needed there. The register lists 30 states of the European Economic Area for Bitstamp, including Germany. BaFin is therefore not the exchange's supervisor, but it is notified through the passport. Investment advice and portfolio management are not part of the licence: Bitstamp executes your orders but does not advise you.

Even before MiCA, Bitstamp had obtained authorisation in Luxembourg under the MiFID financial markets directive for a multilateral trading facility. Which other exchanges operate in Germany with an EU licence is shown in our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

Bitstamp fees in the order book: 0.30 percent maker and 0.40 percent taker

In the order book, Bitstamp charges on a tiered scale based on your trading volume over the past 30 days. A maker places an order in the order book that is not filled immediately, such as a limit order below the current price. A taker, by contrast, immediately fills an existing order, typically with a market order. Because the maker brings liquidity to the exchange, it pays less.

According to the exchange's fee schedule, entry-level rates, that is for less than $10,000 in volume over 30 days, are 0.30 percent for makers and 0.40 percent for takers. Across nine volume tiers they fall to 0.00 percent for makers and 0.03 percent for takers for monthly volume above $1 billion. Much lower rates apply to stablecoin and currency pairs, between 0.03 and 0.08 percent at entry level depending on the pair.

Worked example for a €1,000 purchase

If you buy €1,000 of Bitcoin with a market order, you pay a €4 fee. If you instead place a limit order just below the price and it is filled later, it is €3. The minimum order is €10. For savings plans with small amounts the percentage is what matters; for one-off large purchases, the depth of the order book matters too, and it is high for Bitcoin and Ether against the euro.

Basic Trading and instant buy: where the spread and card fees cost more

Alongside the order book, Bitstamp's app offers a simplified purchase known as Basic Trading. There you do not see an order book price but a price with the spread built in. The spread is the difference between the price you pay and the market price; it works like a fee but does not appear in any fee line. Reviews from this autumn cite a fixed mark-up of around 1.8 percent for coins and around 0.5 percent for stablecoins, with a variable component added depending on market conditions.

Instant purchases with a debit or credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay are more expensive still. Depending on the source, the card fee is 4 to 5 percent of the amount, and the card issuer may add its own charges. A €1,000 purchase therefore costs €40 to €50, ten to twelve times as much as the taker fee in the order book.

Only the order book is therefore useful for comparing prices with other providers. If you choose Bitstamp mainly for its licence and euro liquidity, transfer euros by SEPA first and then trade with limit orders in the Pro view or the web interface.

SEPA deposits and withdrawals at Bitstamp

You deposit euros by SEPA transfer, the standard procedure for transfers within the euro area. Deposits are free and usually take one to two banking days. Bitstamp charges a flat €3 for each SEPA withdrawal. International transfers outside SEPA cost 0.1 percent, with a minimum of €25.

You can send crypto assets to your Bitstamp account free of charge. For withdrawals to a wallet of your own, you pay the network fee of the blockchain concerned plus a processing fee charged by the exchange; Bitstamp shows both before you confirm. With Bitcoin it therefore pays to withdraw less often but in larger amounts.

Before your first deposit comes the identity check, known as KYC (Know Your Customer). Bitstamp requires an ID document and further details, such as your place of residence. This is mandatory at every exchange with a MiCA licence, because the EU's anti-money laundering rules also apply to crypto-asset service providers.

Custody and staking at Bitstamp: cold storage and the Earn programme

The exchange holds the coins in your Bitstamp account on your behalf. Legally, you hold a claim against Bitstamp Europe S.A., while the exchange holds the private keys to the addresses. MiCA requires custodians to keep client funds separate from their own assets and to be able to attribute client holdings at any time. There is, however, no statutory deposit guarantee for crypto assets like the one for bank balances.

Through its Earn programme, Bitstamp offers staking for selected coins. With staking you lock up coins so that the network can use them to secure the blockchain, and you receive a reward in return. Which coins and rates apply depends on the country; the app shows current figures in the Earn section. Staking is not in the catalogue of MiCA services; the exchange offers it in addition to its licensed services.

Anyone holding larger amounts for the long term usually moves them to their own hardware wallet. You are then independent of the exchange but responsible yourself for securing your recovery phrase.

Bitstamp and crypto tax: holding period, exemption limit and DAC8

In Germany, gains from selling crypto assets count as private sales transactions under Section 23 of the Income Tax Act. If you hold a coin for longer than one year, the gain is tax-free. If you sell earlier, the gain is taxable as soon as all private sales gains in a year together reach the €1,000 exemption limit. Whether the holding period will be scrapped from 2027 is politically open; our article on the crypto holding period in 2027 summarises the state of play.

Staking rewards count as other income. A separate exemption limit of €256 a year applies to them; above that, the entire amount is taxable. Bitstamp provides a transaction overview as a file that you can import into tax software. What such a tax report costs is shown in our piece on Blockpit's pricing plans.

Data sharing is new: since January 1, 2026, crypto-asset service providers in the EU have been collecting details of their customers' transactions under the DAC8 directive and will report them from 2027 to the tax authority of their home country. For Bitstamp that is Luxembourg, from where the data of German customers is passed to the German tax authorities. Missing details in a tax return will therefore be easier to spot in future.

Bitstamp compared with other regulated crypto exchanges

With an entry-level taker fee of 0.40 percent, Bitstamp sits in the middle of the field among exchanges with an EU licence. Some large trading venues charge less in the order book, while some broker apps advertise zero fees and earn on the spread. What counts for comparison is therefore the total cost of a purchase: fee plus spread plus deposit and withdrawal costs.

Bitstamp's strengths lie in its euro liquidity, its long operating history and its licensing position: the exchange was the first with MiCA authorisation in Luxembourg and belongs to a listed group. Its weaknesses are the high cost of Basic Trading and card purchases, along with the flat €3 for every SEPA withdrawal, which adds up if you make frequent small withdrawals.

For beginners saving small amounts, a provider with a savings plan may be cheaper; for active traders using limit orders with medium volumes, Bitstamp is a solid choice. If you are looking for leveraged derivatives, read the conditions for each product carefully, because leverage raises the risk of loss up to a total loss of the money invested.

Bitstamp: trade with limit orders and pay 0.30 instead of 0.40 percent

The key figures at a glance: Bitstamp has belonged to Robinhood since June 2025, has held a MiCA licence from Luxembourg with a passport for Germany since May 2025, and charges 0.30 percent as a maker and 0.40 percent as a taker in the order book. Card purchases are expensive at 4 to 5 percent. Three steps help with the decision:

Check whether the licensing position is decisive for you, and compare Bitstamp with other crypto exchanges with EU authorisation.
Work out fees, spread and withdrawal costs for your typical order size and set them against the terms in our crypto exchange comparison.
Decide from the outset how you will document purchases and sales for tax, for example with one of the crypto tax tools and portfolio trackers.

(As of November 8, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

Frequently asked questions about Bitstamp

Yes. Bitstamp Europe S.A. received authorisation under the EU's MiCA regulation from Luxembourg's regulator CSSF on May 15, 2025. Through the EU passport it applies in 30 states of the European Economic Area, including Germany.

In the order book, Bitstamp charges entry-level fees of 0.30 percent as a maker and 0.40 percent as a taker, with rates falling as monthly volume rises. An instant card purchase costs 4 to 5 percent, and a SEPA withdrawal €3.

Bitstamp has belonged to US broker Robinhood since June 2, 2025, which bought the exchange for around $200 million in cash. EU customers continue to have their contract with Bitstamp Europe S.A. in Luxembourg.

A SEPA deposit in euros is free on Bitstamp, as is depositing crypto assets. Costs arise for SEPA withdrawals, at a flat €3, and for crypto withdrawals through network and processing fees.

Since January 1, 2026, crypto-asset service providers in the EU have been collecting transaction data under the DAC8 directive and will report it from 2027 to the tax authority of their home country. For Bitstamp that is Luxembourg, from where the data of German customers is passed to the German tax authorities.

Transparency note: This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by our editorial team before publication. All figures and claims were checked against the primary sources linked in the text. The feature image was generated with AI.

Which topics should we dive deeper into?

Select what genuinely interests you. Your picks feed directly into our editorial planning.

Crypto news that's actually worth your time.

Weekly. 60 seconds. Carefully curated by our editors: no hype, no promo flood, no spam.

Euro balances on a crypto exchange: what to watch after the ESMA answer on MiCA article 70

The European securities regulator ESMA spelled out on October 16, 2026 where a crypto asset service provider may hold your euro balance. A payment service provider without a banking licence is only a staging post of at most one business day.

October 16, 2026 1:35 PM

Kraken parent Payward buys Saldo Bank: the first crypto firm with a bank of its own in the EU

Payward, the parent of Kraken, agreed on October 14 to buy the Lithuanian Saldo Bank and would be the first crypto firm with a bank of its own in the EU. What is established, what stays open until the planned completion in 2027 and what may change for the protection of your euros.

October 15, 2026 7:29 AM

17 of 20 top coins down, Ethereum at $2,380: where the sell-off is measured

Ether loses 5.41 percent over 24 hours and falls to a daily low of $2,332.43. Our own count of the 25 largest cryptocurrencies shows how broadly the sell-off really carries.

October 14, 2026 1:29 AM

South Korea blocks 27 unregistered exchanges, KuCoin and MEXC are on the list

South Korea's anti-money-laundering unit blocked access to 27 websites of unregistered foreign exchanges on October 13, 2026, KuCoin, MEXC and BingX among them. In Germany the grandfathering for legacy providers lapsed back on December 31, 2025, and at KuCoin a granted EU licence stands against an order that still prohibits the commencement of business.

October 13, 2026 10:37 PM

ESMA will supervise only 10 to 15 of 360 crypto firms: your exchange stays with its home regulator

On October 9, 2026 EU finance ministers agreed to place only the largest crypto service providers under direct ESMA supervision. For the vast majority of the roughly 360 authorised firms, the national authority stays in charge, in Germany BaFin.

October 12, 2026 7:43 PM

Canton Coin Arrives in Ripple Custody: What Investors Need to Know

Ripple Custody has held Canton Coin and CIP-56 tokens since version 1.43. What the institutional custody solution means for you as a retail investor, and where you can trade CC in Europe at all.

October 12, 2026 6:50 PM

Kraken Lands Full Dubai Licence: Dirham Trading Goes Live for UAE Crypto Investors

Kraken has won full VARA approval in Dubai, clearing the way for dirham trading, margin, staking and tokenized stocks. Here is what UAE traders get.

October 12, 2026 4:16 AM

Binance fees: 0.1 percent to trade, and one drawback compared with MiCA-licensed exchanges

Binance charges 0.1 percent in spot trading and 0.02 and 0.05 percent in derivatives. Since July 1, 2026 the exchange has lacked the MiCA authorisation for the EU, which leaves the fee table answering only half the question German investors are asking.

October 11, 2026 10:39 PM

Buying Dogecoin: instant buy at one percent or the order book at 0.8?

Seven cents per €100 separated the best asks of three authorised exchanges on Sunday evening. Between instant buy and order book at the same provider lie 75 cents.

October 7, 2026 10:41 AM

Three routes and no dates: the BaFin refuses bitcoin.de the MiCAR licence, futurum bank AG keeps holding customer assets

The BaFin has refused futurum bank AG the MiCAR authorisation, and with it the previous forbearance for bitcoin.de ends. What the mandatory disclosure says about your balance, which three routes the company names and which records you should secure now.

October 5, 2026 1:29 AM

Chainalysis attributes $387 million from the Bitget hack to North Korea: what matters now for investors in Germany

The analytics firm Chainalysis attributes the theft of around $387 million at Bitget to actors with ties to the DPRK and puts the annual total above one billion dollars. What that means for custody, choice of exchange and record-keeping in Germany.

October 1, 2026 4:21 AM

Velocity Replaces Drift After the 285 Million Dollar Hack: What Changes for Investors in Germany

The Solana perp DEX Drift is back as Velocity, and since September 29, 2026 a new team has been running it. What the overhaul after the outflow of 285 million dollars means for your deposits, for settlement in USDT and for the legal position in Germany.

September 30, 2026 10:40 PM

ESMA Calls for Advertising Rules on Crypto Influencers: Six Changes Now Sitting With the EU Commission

The EU securities watchdog filed its response to the MiCA review on the final day of the consultation. Among the demands are disclosure on staking, a licensable DeFi gateway and the power to freeze crypto assets.

September 29, 2026 10:33 AM

ESMA puts reverse solicitation on its 2027 watch list: what investors need to know about exchanges without an EU licence

ESMA presented its work programme for 2027 on September 28, 2026 and made reverse solicitation a supervisory priority. What that means if your coins sit with a provider without EU authorisation, and which three steps make sense now.

September 26, 2026 4:21 AM

Operation Herakles disconnects 13,888 phone numbers: what to check on crypto investment calls

Six authorities have disconnected 13,888 phone numbers used by investment fraudsters to call their victims in Operation Herakles, 9,304 of them in the past three months alone. What the Federal Network Agency now requires of telecoms providers and which three checks protect you from the scheme.

September 20, 2026 10:11 PM

Kraken Review: Fees, MiCA Licence and Withdrawals in Euro

A purchase through Kraken's standard interface costs 1 percent plus spread; on Kraken Pro it is 0.40 to 0.80 percent. What deposits, trading, withdrawals and tax records really cost at the crypto exchange, with the numbers from the official fee schedule.

September 19, 2026 4:11 PM

MiCA Consultation Closes September 30: What to Check and Submit Before Then

The European Commission is reviewing the MiCA crypto regulation and will accept submissions until September 30, 2026 at 23:59 CEST. Staking, DeFi, lending, stablecoins and custody are all under examination, and you can take part without a lawyer.

September 11, 2026 1:40 PM

Inactivity Fees at Crypto Exchanges: How to Check Whether Your Dormant Account Loses Money Every Month

Two providers have just raised their rates for dormant accounts, one of them to as much as 52 US dollars a month. Our own survey of 15 fee pages shows why you will almost never find the answer for your account without logging in.

September 10, 2026 1:21 AM

Crypto Exchanges Head to Head: Which Pairing Is Cheaper Where

Before opening an account, the question is rarely which exchange is best overall, but whether it should be this one or that one. This article sorts through the most searched head-to-heads, puts the cost per 1,000 euros side by side and explains the most expensive mix-up: one provider with two interfaces and a factor of seventeen between them.

September 6, 2026 10:20 PM

Bison App: a 1.25 Percent Spread, 27 Percent of the Staking Rewards and Trading Without an Order Book

The crypto app of Boerse Stuttgart advertises freedom from fees. You pay through the spread instead. What the licences actually cover, why there is no order book, and why the tax report loses its value once you transfer coins out.

September 6, 2026 10:12 PM

MoonPay Fees: Up to 4.5 Percent, a Partner Margin on Top, and a Markup You Never See as a Fee

MoonPay is the buy button built into many crypto wallets. The European price list names four layers of cost, and only three of them show up as line items. What the provider is allowed to do, and what it expressly is not.

August 11, 2026 9:18 AM

Your Crypto Exchange Is Telling You to Withdraw: How to Spot Phishing After the MiCA Deadline

Unauthorised crypto providers now have to tell their EU customers to withdraw, which leaves fraudsters an easy run with faked requests. Here is how to check in two minutes whether the message is genuine.

August 6, 2026 3:05 PM

MiCA Register 2026: Only 21 of 329 Licences Are Real Exchanges

ESMA publishes the register of MiCA-authorised providers as an open file. We worked through all of it — and the result is not what the phrase “licensed crypto exchange” suggests.

July 2, 2026 8:59 PM

Binance Is Out of the EU: How to Move to a MiCA-Regulated Exchange

Binance has left the EU market. Which exchanges hold a MiCA licence, how to verify an authorisation is real, and how to move your holdings across step by step.

June 30, 2026 11:20 PM

How to Switch from Binance to a MiCA Regulated Crypto Exchange

Binance is winding down EU services after missing the MiCA deadline. Here's why it's happening and how to move your funds to a regulated platform safely.

June 26, 2026 5:35 PM

Binance Is Leaving the EU on July 1 — What It Means for Your Funds

Binance will stop serving EU customers from July 1 after failing to secure a MiCA licence. Here's what it means for your funds and your next move.