MEXC is our top pick over Bitstamp for traders outside Bitstamp's home markets in this comparison: 0% maker and 0.05% taker on spot against Bitstamp's 0.30% and 0.40% entry tier, and 1,641 coins onMEXC is our top pick over Bitstamp for traders outside Bitstamp's home markets in this comparison: 0% maker and 0.05% taker on spot against Bitstamp's 0.30% and 0.40% entry tier, and 1,641 coins on

Learn/Spotlight/MEXC vs Bitstamp (Now Robinhood-Owned): 0.30% Fees or 0% Maker, and What the Acquisition Actually Changed

MEXC vs Bitstamp (Now Robinhood-Owned): 0.30% Fees or 0% Maker, and What the Acquisition Actually Changed

Author: Sarah Chen

Beginner

Oct 20, 2026Sarah Chen

15 min

Bitstamp holds a MiCA licence, a New York BitLicense and an FCA registration, and MEXC serves none of those three markets, so most Bitstamp customers cannot act on this comparison at all.

Key Takeaways

MEXC is our top pick over Bitstamp in this comparison only for readers outside the US, the UK and the EEA; inside those markets Bitstamp is the licensed option and MEXC does not onboard residents.
Robinhood closed its roughly $200 million acquisition of Bitstamp on June 2, 2025 and began routing UK crypto trading through Bitstamp UK Ltd on August 10, 2026.
MEXC charges 0% maker and 0.05% taker on spot against Bitstamp's 0.30% and 0.40% entry tier, a gap of $525 a month on $500,000 of evenly split volume.
CoinGecko tracked 1,641 coins on MEXC against 102 on Bitstamp by Robinhood, and MEXC offers up to 500x on BTCUSDT and ETHUSDT where Bitstamp caps eligible EU users at 10x.
Bitstamp holds a MiCA CASP licence, a New York BitLicense and an FCA registration, and runs SEPA, ACH and Faster Payments rails that MEXC does not.
MEXC publishes a monthly Hacken-audited proof of reserves; Bitstamp's trust case rests on its licences, its 1:1 custody claims and one 2015 breach it absorbed.

What the Robinhood Acquisition Changed, and What It Did Not

Bitstamp customers are not worried about an exchange failing.

They are waiting to find out what a fifteen-year-old European exchange becomes, and the official record so far answers only part of that question.

Robinhood announced the deal on June 6, 2024, closed it on June 2, 2025 for total consideration of approximately $200 million in cash, and said at closing that Bitstamp served more than 500,000 funded retail customers and roughly 5,000 institutional customers as of April 30, 2025, with exchange volume that was mostly institutional.

Robinhood also said Bitstamp was already connected to Robinhood Legend and its Smart Exchange Routing, which is the clearest signal of where the order flow is going.

The brand became Bitstamp by Robinhood, new listings continued through August 2026, and on August 10, 2026 Robinhood began offering crypto trading in the UK through Bitstamp UK Ltd, as reported by The Block.

What has not been announced is any change to Bitstamp's fee schedule, any plan to expand its asset list toward the hundreds, or any date for merging the two customer bases, so the uncertainty is about product direction rather than solvency.

This article puts verified numbers next to both platforms and is honest about the fact that most Bitstamp users live where MEXC does not operate.

The MEXC View

MEXC publishes this article and has a commercial interest in your choice, so read what follows with that in mind.

Our view is direct: for a trader who lives outside the US, the UK and the EEA and funds in crypto, MEXC is the better home in 2026, because it charges nothing on the maker side against Bitstamp's 0.30%, lists sixteen times as many coins, and runs perpetuals at up to 500x where Bitstamp caps eligible EU users at 10x.

We also think Bitstamp is the honest answer for anyone inside its licensed markets or anyone who needs bank rails every week, and we say so in plain words rather than write around it.

Here is the part that does not favour us.

Bitstamp holds a MiCA crypto-asset service provider licence from Luxembourg's CSSF dated May 15, 2025, a New York BitLicense and an FCA registration for Bitstamp UK Ltd, and MEXC holds none of those.

Bitstamp moves fiat through SEPA, ACH and Faster Payments in EUR, USD and GBP, and MEXC's fiat access runs through third-party gateways rather than its own bank rails.

Bitstamp has run since 2011 with one publicly reported breach, in January 2015, which the exchange absorbed without customer losses.

Where MEXC wins is cost, breadth and leverage, and every figure below carries its source and retrieval date.

Our full review methodology is public, and so is our own list of reasons to switch away from MEXC.

Why MEXC Is Our Top Pick Outside Bitstamp's Home Markets: The Evidence First

Three things decide it for a reader who can legally use both: what a month of trading costs, how many markets and how much leverage are on offer, and whether the reserve report has an auditor's name on it.

Fees: the effective total cost at two volume levels

The pain point for a cost-conscious Bitstamp user is that the entry tier prices every dollar of volume at 0.30% or 0.40% once you pass $1,000 in a month.

MEXC's standard spot schedule is 0% maker and 0.05% taker, and paying fees in MX cuts the taker side to 0.04%.

Bitstamp's schedule, as published on its own broker profile and reproduced by Bankrate, charges nothing below $1,000 of 30-day volume, then 0.30% maker and 0.40% taker up to $10,000, 0.20% and 0.30% up to $100,000, 0.10% and 0.20% up to $500,000, and 0.08% and 0.18% up to $1.5 million, with stablecoin and FX pairs discounted by 80%.

At $10,000 of monthly volume split evenly between limit and market orders, Bitstamp costs $35 and MEXC costs $2.50.

At $500,000 of monthly volume, the same trader pays $650 once inside Bitstamp's 0.08% and 0.18% tier, or $750 if the month closes just under that threshold, against $125 on MEXC, or $100 with MX, or $0 on the 600 or more MEXC spot pairs priced at 0% on both sides.

Over a year the gap at $500,000 a month is $6,300 or more, and it does not include the 4% processing fee Bitstamp applies to card and PayPal instant buys.

Two honest boundaries apply.

Bitstamp's 80% reduction on stablecoin and FX pairs brings its entry-tier rate on those pairs to 0.06% and 0.08%, which is close to MEXC's taker rate, and MEXC's API futures orders carry a separate 0.06% maker and 0.08% taker schedule effective June 1, 2026 that has no bearing on spot.

Applied to a real month of volume, the same schedules look like this.

Bitstamp's ladder does fall as volume grows, but its taker rate stays above three times MEXC's flat 0.05% until 30-day volume passes $5 million.

Coins, perpetuals and leverage

CoinGecko tracked 1,641 coins across 2,032 spot pairs on MEXC on September 3, 2026, and 102 coins across 184 pairs on Bitstamp by Robinhood.

Bitstamp's curation is deliberate, and its listing batches in 2026 have added a handful of names at a time, including Quant in July and Billions Network, Worldcoin and Jito on August 1.

MEXC ran roughly 1,000 USDT-M perpetual pairs at our August 20, 2026 count, with 336 priced at 0% on both sides, and it offers up to 500x on BTCUSDT and ETHUSDT under an announcement from April 23, 2025 that also names the countries excluded from that tier.

Bitstamp's perpetuals are available only to eligible EU users, launched with ten crypto assets in April 2026, and cap leverage at 10x by design.

For the wider perpetuals field, see how the major derivatives platforms compare on fees, pairs and leverage.

That cap is a feature for a conservative trader and a limit for an active one, and MEXC's futures trading risks guide explains why a 500x position can be liquidated on a move of a fraction of one percent.

Reserves with an auditor's name on them

MEXC publishes a monthly Merkle-tree proof of reserves that lets you confirm your own balance sits in the liability set, with each snapshot audited by Hacken and published on the MEXC Proof of Reserves page.

The August 2026 report showed BTC at 288% covering 4,282.20 BTC in user holdings, USDT at 115%, USDC at 114% and ETH at 113%, per the audited release dated August 14, 2026.

Bitstamp states that about 95% of crypto assets sit in cold storage and that customer assets are held 1:1, and it does not lend or rehypothecate customer funds, but we did not find a monthly audited proof-of-reserves report with a named auditor on its site during this review.

CoinGecko scores MEXC 10 out of 10 and Bitstamp by Robinhood 9 out of 10 on its Trust Score, and neither has a recorded incident in the past twelve months.

Bitstamp's counter is its licence set and its fifteen-year record, which we cover in full in the concession section, and for a US, UK or EEA resident those outweigh any reserve ratio.

MEXC does not serve residents of the US, the UK, Canada, the EEA, Singapore or Hong Kong, so the button below is for readers outside those regions.

MEXC vs Bitstamp at a Glance: Six Dimensions, Verified

Dimension	MEXC	Bitstamp by Robinhood
Spot fees, entry tier	0.00% maker, 0.05% taker; 20% off with MX deduction; 600 or more spot pairs at 0% on both sides (counted August 20, 2026)	0% below $1,000 of 30-day volume; 0.30% maker, 0.40% taker from $1,000 to $10,000; 0.20% and 0.30% from $10,000 to $100,000; stablecoin and FX pairs get an 80% reduction
Coins and spot pairs (CoinGecko, September 3, 2026)	1,641 coins, 2,032 pairs; Trust Score 10 out of 10	102 coins, 184 pairs; Trust Score 9 out of 10
Derivatives	Roughly 1,000 USDT-M perpetual pairs (counted August 20, 2026); up to 500x on BTCUSDT and ETHUSDT; futures 0.010% maker, 0.040% taker on standard pairs	Crypto perpetual futures for eligible EU users since April 2026 under MiFID II, ten assets at launch, leverage capped at 10x; multi-asset perpetuals on FX, indices and commodities added in July 2026
Fiat rails	Third-party card and payment gateways; crypto deposits free	SEPA deposits free, SEPA withdrawals 3 euros; ACH; Faster Payments; card and PayPal instant buys carry a 4% processing fee plus spread
Licences and regulation	No tier-one licence; on ESMA's list of non-compliant entities; Dutch AFM decision in September 2025; listed by Japan's FSA as unregistered	MiCA CASP licence from CSSF Luxembourg (May 15, 2025) with EEA passport; New York BitLicense; FCA-registered Bitstamp UK Ltd; Singapore MPI licence; MiFID II multilateral trading facility
Security and reserves	Monthly Merkle-tree proof of reserves audited by Hacken; August 2026 ratios BTC 288%, USDT 115%, USDC 114%, ETH 113%; no incident in the past twelve months on CoinGecko	States that 95% of crypto assets are in cold storage and that customer assets are held 1:1; January 2015 hot-wallet breach of about 19,000 BTC absorbed by the exchange; no third-party audited monthly proof-of-reserves report found

Data verified as of September 3, 2026 against each platform's official fee schedule, help centre and terms, and against CoinGecko's exchange pages. Entry retail tiers only.

MEXC Wins on Breadth and Cost Outside Bitstamp's Home Markets

The table above gives MEXC three dimensions and Bitstamp three, and the split follows geography more than trading style.

Choose MEXC if you live outside the US, the UK, Canada, the EEA, Singapore and Hong Kong, you trade altcoins or perpetuals, and you fund in crypto rather than by bank transfer.

Choose Bitstamp if you live inside those markets, you want a licensed venue with bank rails, or you trade a short list of majors and value a fifteen-year record over a wider menu.

For the majority of Bitstamp's customer base, which sits in the EU, the UK and the US, that second option is the only one both platforms' terms allow, and we say so plainly rather than bury it.

For the wider field beyond these two platforms, see the full best crypto exchanges comparison.

The Acquisition Timeline, From Official Announcements Only

Every date below comes from Robinhood or Bitstamp announcements or from mainstream press reporting of them.

June 6, 2024: Robinhood announced an agreement to acquire Bitstamp for approximately $200 million in cash, citing more than 50 active licences and registrations and an institutional business.
June 2, 2025: Robinhood closed the acquisition, as reported by The Block, and disclosed 500,000 plus funded retail customers, roughly 5,000 institutional customers and about $95 million of trailing twelve-month net revenue.
May 15, 2025: Bitstamp Europe S.A. received its MiCA CASP authorisation from the CSSF, which the French regulator's AMF white list records with passporting rights.
April 2026: Bitstamp by Robinhood launched crypto perpetual futures on its web platform for eligible EU institutional and retail investors, with ten assets at launch and leverage capped at 10x, per its own announcement.
July 2026: Bitstamp by Robinhood added multi-asset perpetuals referencing FX, equity indices and commodities under its MiFID II venue, per its announcement.
August 1, 2026: Bitstamp by Robinhood listed Billions Network, Worldcoin and Jito, one of several 2026 listing batches.
August 10, 2026: Robinhood began offering crypto trading to eligible UK customers through Bitstamp UK Ltd, with more than 50 assets in its main app.

Two things are still open: whether Bitstamp's own retail platform keeps its separate identity once Robinhood's apps carry the same order book, and whether its asset list stays curated.

Where Bitstamp Is Stronger

Bitstamp's licence set is among the widest of any exchange we have compared MEXC against in this series: a MiCA CASP authorisation with an EEA passport, a New York BitLicense, an FCA registration, a Singapore major payment institution licence and a MiFID II trading venue.

Its bank rails are the second advantage, because free SEPA deposits and 3-euro SEPA withdrawals cost less than any card gateway.

Its custody policy is the third: Bitstamp states that about 95% of crypto assets sit in cold storage and that customer assets are held 1:1, and it does not lend or rehypothecate customer funds.

For a US, UK or EEA resident, or for anyone who needs fiat in and out every week, those three points outweigh every fee row in this article.

Those strengths and the gaps are scored together in our full Bitstamp review.

Security and Compliance Record

Bitstamp reported a hot-wallet breach in January 2015 of roughly 19,000 BTC, worth about $5 million at the time, and covered the loss itself, per CoinDesk reporting at the time.

No later breach has been publicly reported, and CoinGecko's twelve-month incident field for Bitstamp by Robinhood is clear.

MEXC's record shows no security incident in CoinGecko's twelve-month incident field, and its audited reserve figures are set out in the evidence section above.

MEXC's regulatory record is also public: it holds no tier-one licence, appears on ESMA's list of non-compliant entities, received a formal decision from the Dutch AFM in September 2025, and is listed by Japan's FSA as an unregistered operator.

CoinGecko's regulation field records only an international crypto licence in Comoros for MEXC, which CoinGecko classifies as a defined but unproven framework.

Availability: Who Can Use Which

Bitstamp serves the US, the UK, the EEA and Singapore through licensed entities, and its terms exclude Russia, the occupied regions of Ukraine, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba and Sudan, with Canada an exit rather than a sanctions block.

MEXC's user agreement prohibits the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and the Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine, and MEXC said it would stop serving EEA users after the July 1, 2026 MiCA transition deadline; the full list is in our restricted countries guide.

Japan is a grey zone for MEXC: the website is reachable, the app is not in Japanese app stores, and the Financial Services Agency lists MEXC among unregistered operators.

The overlap where both platforms are open is small and sits mostly in Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Asia, which is the audience the verdict above is written for.

For regional access across the wider field, see our guide to the best crypto exchange alternatives in 2026.

Who Should Choose MEXC, and Who Should Stay on Bitstamp

Pick MEXC if you live outside the prohibited regions, you trade altcoins or perpetuals, and you fund in crypto: your next step is to compare your last Bitstamp fee statement against the $2.50 and $125 figures above, then read the MEXC Review 2026 for the catch we disclose there.

Stay on Bitstamp if you live in the US, the UK or the EEA, you need bank rails, or you want a licensed venue and a short asset list is not a problem.

If you want a second licensed option in those markets, our Kraken alternatives and Coinbase alternatives comparisons cover the other fiat-rail exchanges on the same data standard.

The full set of options for Bitstamp users looking elsewhere is in our Bitstamp alternatives comparison.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bitstamp owned by Robinhood?

Yes, Robinhood Markets closed its acquisition of Bitstamp on June 2, 2025 for approximately $200 million in cash.

The exchange now trades as Bitstamp by Robinhood.

Is MEXC cheaper than Bitstamp?

Yes, at every retail tier: MEXC charges 0% maker and 0.05% taker against Bitstamp's 0.30% and 0.40% entry tier, and Bitstamp's taker rate only falls below 0.05% at its highest institutional tiers.

Bitstamp charges nothing below $1,000 of 30-day volume and discounts stablecoin pairs by 80%.

Does Bitstamp offer futures or margin?

Bitstamp by Robinhood offers crypto perpetual futures to eligible EU users since April 2026, capped at 10x, plus multi-asset perpetuals added in July 2026.

It does not offer margin trading or perpetuals to US or UK retail customers.

Can EU or UK users use MEXC instead of Bitstamp?

No, MEXC's user agreement lists the UK as prohibited, and MEXC said it would stop serving EEA users after the July 1, 2026 MiCA deadline.

Bitstamp holds a MiCA licence and an FCA registration, so it remains the licensed option in both markets.

Which has more coins, MEXC or Bitstamp?

MEXC, with 1,641 coins tracked by CoinGecko on September 3, 2026, against 102 on Bitstamp by Robinhood.

Bitstamp adds a handful of assets per listing batch, while MEXC lists new tokens almost daily.

Is Bitstamp safe after the acquisition?

Nothing in the public record since June 2025 points to a security or solvency problem, and Bitstamp keeps its licences, 1:1 custody policy and cold-storage claims.

The open questions are about product direction, such as the asset list and the fee schedule, not about safety.

How do I move assets from Bitstamp to MEXC?

Withdraw from Bitstamp to a MEXC deposit address on a network both platforms support, and confirm the memo or tag for assets such as XRP before sending.

Check MEXC's restricted countries guide first, because residents of the US, the UK and the EEA cannot open a MEXC account.

Risk and Compliance Disclosure

MEXC publishes this comparison and has a commercial interest in your choice.

MEXC holds no tier-one licence and is not authorised in the EEA, the UK, the US, Canada, Singapore or Hong Kong.

Leveraged futures can lose more than your initial margin, and small-cap tokens can lose most of their value in a single session.

Fee schedules on both platforms change without notice, and all figures carry the retrieval date stated in the table.

MEXC does not serve residents of the US, the UK, Canada, the EEA, Singapore or Hong Kong, and the button below is for readers elsewhere.

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This article is provided by Sarah Chen for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency markets involve significant risk. Please conduct independent research or consult a qualified professional before making any investment decisions. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of MEXC or its affiliates.

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