Robinhood
Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) will acquire two Indonesian financial firms – Buana
Capital Sekuritas and Pedagang Aset Kripto – as the trading app targets one of
Asia’s hottest cryptocurrency markets.

The company
announced the deal yesterday (Sunday), marking its first major move into
Southeast Asia. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but the transaction is
expected to close sometime in the first half of next year.

Robinhood Acquires
Indonesian Brokerage, Crypto Firms in Southeast Asia Push

Indonesia
has become one of the world’s largest crypto adoption markets, with roughly 17
million cryptocurrency traders and 19 million capital market investors. The
country’s young, tech-savvy population and favorable regulations have made it
attractive for U.S. financial firms looking to grow outside their home markets.

“Indonesia
represents a fast-growing market for trading, making it an exciting place to
further Robinhood’s mission to democratize finance for all,” Patrick Chan,
Head of Asia at Robinhood, said.

In recent
months, many retail trading firms have turned their attention to the region.
Toward the end of last year, Doo
Financial received a license there, followed shortly by XTB.
Both companies aimed not only to access a large local market, but also to gain
entry to clients in neighboring countries across the region.

Two Acquisitions Speed
Market Entry

Buying an
existing brokerage helps companies meet local regulatory requirements faster
than building operations from scratch. The crypto trader acquisition gives
Robinhood immediate access to Indonesia’s digital asset infrastructure.

Pieter
Tanuri, who owns the majority stake in both Indonesian firms, will stay on as a
strategic adviser after the deal closes.

The move
comes as Robinhood looks beyond its core U.S. market, where it built a massive
following by eliminating trading commissions and simplifying stock investing
through a mobile app.

Product Expansion

To achieve
this,Robinhood has been expanding its product lineup aggressively this
year. The company joined the S&P 500 index in September and launched
prediction markets in March. Last month, it acquired MIAXdx to
reduce dependence on third-party providers like Kalshi for event-based
trading contracts.

The
platform has
also been pushing tokenization of traditional securities. CEO Vlad Tenev
described it as “the biggest innovation in capital markets” in more
than ten years, outlining plans to let users use tokenized stocks as collateral
for crypto loans.

Robinhood
shares have climbed 268% this year through December 5, far outpacing the
broader market. The stock went public in New York in 2021.

However,
XTB’s CEO Omar Arnaout said he expects Robinhood
will struggle to replicate its U.S. success in Europe. The Poland-based
platform executive called XTB the continent’s answer to the American brokerage
and questioned whether Robinhood’s model would work across fragmented European
markets.

This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

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