Bitstamp exchange review: a 0.40 percent taker fee and a MiCA licence from Luxembourg

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:

1. Check whether the licensing position is decisive for you, and compare Bitstamp with other crypto exchanges with EU authorisation.
2. Work out fees, spread and withdrawal costs for your typical order size and set them against the terms in our crypto exchange comparison.
3. 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.)