Robinhood Targets Indonesia as Next Big Crypto Growth Market

Indonesia is also one of the fastest-growing digital-asset markets in Southeast Asia. The company plans to eventually connect Indonesian users to US equities and crypto products as part of its mission to democratize finance. At the same time, Coinbase reopened access to Indian users after more than two years of regulatory roadblocks, but will initially offer only crypto-to-crypto trading while it works toward restoring full fiat support in 2026. India is the world’s top-ranked crypto adoption market for the third year running, which pushed multiple exchanges, including Bybit and Binance, to reenter the country. Overall, both Robinhood and Coinbase are both accelerating their international expansion plans as global crypto adoption surges, and Indonesia and India are stepping up as major targets.

Robinhood Pushes Into Indonesia

Robinhood is pushing deeper into global expansion with a new move into Indonesia, which is one of the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency markets. The company announced that it signed agreements to acquire two local fintech firms — Buana Capital, an Indonesian brokerage, and PT Pedagang Aset Kripto, a licensed digital financial asset trader. The acquisitions will allow Robinhood to establish an immediate regulatory foothold and accelerate its ability to offer both traditional equities and crypto services to millions of Indonesian investors.

The company specifically pointed out Indonesia’s expanding investor base as a major draw. The country now counts more than 19 million capital market investors and 17 million crypto investors, making it one of the most active digital-asset markets in Southeast Asia. 

Chainalysis ranked Indonesia seventh globally in its 2025 crypto adoption index and the region’s top market overall. This growth helped push the total transaction value of crypto assets to over 650 trillion Indonesian rupiah (about $39.7 billion) in 2024, which was triple the volume recorded the previous year, according to Reuters.

Chainalysis 2025 crypto adoption index 

Robinhood said the deal positions it to serve Buana Capital’s existing clients with Indonesian financial products while also laying the groundwork to eventually introduce the full suite of Robinhood brokerage tools. The company plans to connect Indonesian users to US equities, cryptocurrencies, and additional investment opportunities while it scales its presence in the region. Patrick Chan, Robinhood’s head of Asia, described Indonesia as a “fast-growing market for trading” and an ideal environment to advance the firm’s mission of democratizing access to financial markets.

The financial terms of the acquisitions were not shared, but Robinhood expects the deal to close in the first half of 2026. The move follows the company’s impressive international expansion in 2024, including launches in Europe and the UK. It also comes as Robinhood pushes into the booming prediction markets sector after it acquired an FTX-linked company in November.

Coinbase Returns to India

Other crypto exchanges are also making major international moves. In fact, Coinbase recently reopened its doors to users in India after more than two years.

According to TechCrunch, the US-based exchange quietly relaunched access through an early-access program in October before fully restoring user registrations. The move is a major step forward for Coinbase, which was forced to scale back operations in 2022 after losing support for the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the country’s dominant real-time bank transfer system.

For now, Coinbase’s return is limited in scope. Speaking at India Blockchain Week, Coinbase APAC Director John O’Loghlen said users in the country can currently trade only crypto-to-crypto pairs. The company plans to reintroduce a full fiat on-ramp in 2026, which suggests that there will be more a gradual, compliance-first approach as the exchange integrates more deeply into India’s regulatory environment. 

Coinbase stopped UPI support just days after launching in India in April of 2022, after pressure from payments authorities. By September 2023, the exchange disabled all services for local users. Over the past year, however, Coinbase increased engagement with Indian regulators and registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit, meeting anti-money laundering requirements that paved the way for its re-entry. The company also expanded its footprint in the region through strategic investments, including backing local exchange CoinDCX in October as part of its push across India and the Middle East.

Announcement from Coinbase about regulatory progress in India

India is one of the most dynamic crypto markets globally. A recent TRM Labs report ranked the country first in crypto adoption for the third consecutive year, ahead of major economies including the US, Pakistan, the Philippines and Brazil. 

TRM Labs 2025 crypto adoption index

Other global exchanges are also returning to capitalize on the momentum. Bybit restored full app access for Indian users in September, while Binance re-entered the market in August of 2024 after paying a $2.25 million penalty.