If you live in the United States and want to buy crypto, two kinds of app keep coming up: a stock brokerage that added crypto, and an exchange built for crypto alone. They charge in different ways, list different numbers of coins, and hold your coins differently, so the better pick depends on how you plan to buy, hold, and move them.
Robinhood Crypto is the brokerage version. An order placed in its app goes either to market makers, who are paid inside the spread, or to partner exchanges that charge a posted fee (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing). Coinbase is the exchange version: an American cryptocurrency exchange, listed on Nasdaq, with more than 100 million users and operations in over 100 countries (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase). If you are new to the brokerage side, what is Robinhood Crypto covers the account itself.
What is the difference between Robinhood Crypto and Coinbase?
Robinhood Crypto is the crypto account inside a stock brokerage app, where most orders fill through market makers and the cost sits in the spread. Coinbase is a dedicated crypto exchange with roughly three times as many coins, a posted maker and taker fee schedule, a staking service and a separate self-custody wallet app.
| Robinhood Crypto | Coinbase | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Crypto account in a stock brokerage app | Crypto exchange, public on Nasdaq |
| Default cost | Spread; $0.95 per $100 goes to Robinhood (June 15, 2026) | 0.40% maker, 0.60% taker at the lowest tier (June 2026), plus spreads |
| Posted-fee option | Exchange routing, 0.00% to 0.95% (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing) | Maker and taker tiers down to 0.00% and 0.04% |
| Coins | 90 on market-maker routing, 66 on exchange routing | More than 250 (2023), over 275 (2026) |
| Staking | Closed in California, Maryland, New Jersey, Wisconsin | Coinbase Earn |
| Custody | Mostly cold storage | Custodial account, mostly offline storage |
| Self-custody app | Robinhood Wallet | Coinbase Wallet |
| Regulatory status | FinCEN-registered money services business | SEC lawsuit filed June 2023, dismissed February 2025 |
In short, buying crypto on Robinhood happens in the same app as your stocks, with most of the cost folded into the price you are quoted, while Coinbase lists far more coins and shows a fee rate you can check before you trade. Neither is cheaper in every case, because the spread on any given day can outweigh a posted fee.
Both hold your coins for you by default, and both let you move coins to a separate self-custody app when you want the keys yourself. If you buy bitcoin or ether a few times a year, the main difference is the cost of each buy. If you want smaller coins, staking, or a fee you can see in advance, the coin list, the staking rules, and the fee schedule start to decide it.
Robinhood Crypto vs Coinbase fees
On Robinhood Crypto, the default market-maker route has no separate fee, and the cost sits in the spread. As of June 15, 2026, Robinhood receives $0.95 from its market maker for every $100 traded on that route. Exchange routing charges a posted fee of 0.00% to 0.95% (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing).
A bid-ask spread is the gap between the highest price a buyer will pay and the lowest price a seller will accept (source: Investopedia, Bid-Ask Spread). Robinhood fills a buy at the ask and a sell at the bid, while the chart shows the mid price halfway between them, so your buy spread is the distance from the mid price up to the ask. Say you place a $100 buy and the buy spread is 0.96%. You pay $0.96 above the mid price, and $0.95 of that goes to Robinhood. You can read the bid and the ask on the order review screen before you send the order (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing).
Exchange routing is the posted-fee option, and you can switch it on from the order type menu. Its fee rate falls as your 30-day exchange-routed volume rises. A market or stop order on that route pays the taker fee, while a limit order generally rests on a partner exchange's order book and pays the maker fee if it is matched later. Exchange routing is unavailable to North Carolina residents and on web classic. Those orders always use market-maker routing (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing). The Robinhood exchange-routing fee tiers step down as your volume grows.
Coinbase shows its trading fee as a maker and taker schedule, and you pay less as a maker than as a taker. As of June 2026, the lowest tier, $0 to $10,000 in volume, pays 0.40% as a maker and 0.60% as a taker, and the rates fall tier by tier to 0.00% maker and 0.04% taker above $400 million. Your total cost on Coinbase also depends on your payment method, the blockchain you use, and the spread, and its transaction fees run higher than most crypto exchanges. Coinbase's Advanced Trade platform adds real-time order books for active traders (source: Investopedia, Coinbase Review).
Put the two side by side on a $1,000 bitcoin buy. On Coinbase's lowest tier, a market order costs $6.00 in taker fee and a limit order that rests and fills costs $4.00, before any spread. On Robinhood's market-maker route, using the 0.96% spread from the example above, the same buy costs $9.60 above the mid price with no separate fee line. That spread is an example, and real spreads widen and narrow with the market. Neither Robinhood route guarantees better pricing than the other. Your all-in cost on exchange routing can come out higher or lower depending partly on how much you trade (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing).
Robinhood Crypto vs Coinbase coin selection
Coinbase lists far more coins. Robinhood Crypto offers 90 coins on its default market-maker route, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. Exchange routing is open to 66 coins (source: Robinhood, Crypto availability). Coinbase offered more than 250 cryptocurrencies to United States customers as of 2023 (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase).
By July 2026 the Coinbase count had passed 275 assets available to buy or sell (source: Investopedia, Coinbase Review).
The gap matters most when you want a smaller or newer token. If a coin is outside Robinhood's 90, the app cannot buy it, and Coinbase's longer list is the usual reason to open a second account. If the coin is inside the 90 but outside the 66, switching on exchange routing changes nothing for that coin, because the order stays on market-maker routing with the cost in the spread (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing). The popular memecoins on Robinhood follow the same two lists.
A long list also means more thinly traded coins, and thin trading is where spreads get wide. Before you buy a small coin on either platform, compare the bid and the ask on the order screen with the fee you expect to pay. A coin with a 2% gap between bid and ask costs you $20 on a $1,000 buy at the moment you fill, whatever the posted fee says.
Say you want a token that only Coinbase lists. You would open and verify a Coinbase account, fund it, and buy the token there, while keeping your large coins on whichever platform costs you less to trade them.
Robinhood Crypto vs Coinbase staking
Staking means locking coins on a blockchain so the network can use them to validate transactions, in return for staking rewards. Coinbase offers it through Coinbase Earn (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase). Robinhood Crypto offers staking too. It is unavailable in California, Maryland, New Jersey, and Wisconsin (source: Robinhood, Crypto staking).
The risks are the same kind on either platform. A staked coin cannot be sold until you unstake it, and the length of that unstaking wait is usually set by the coin's own blockchain. Some protocols take a slashing penalty, a loss of part of the stake, when validators misbehave. Rewards depend entirely on the protocol, with some periods paying nothing (source: Robinhood, Crypto staking). Size a stake as coins you can leave alone for the whole unstaking wait, because a price drop during the lock is a loss you cannot sell out of.
Coinbase is one of the largest stakers in the market. In March 2025 it described itself as the biggest node operator on Ethereum, with 11.42% of all staked Ether. Its staking product also drew regulatory attention: the SEC alleged in 2023 that Coinbase never registered its staking service under US securities law. The case was dismissed in February 2025 (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase).
Say you live in New Jersey and want to stake Ethereum. You can still buy ETH on Robinhood Crypto, but those coins stay unstaked in your state. Your options are to hold the ETH as it is, or to stake it on another platform such as Coinbase Earn after checking that the service is open to residents of your state.
Robinhood Crypto vs Coinbase custody and security
Both platforms hold your coins for you by default, and both offer a separate app if you want to hold the keys yourself. Robinhood Crypto stores most customer coins in offline cold storage, with some in online hot wallets for daily operations (source: Robinhood, Crypto security).
Robinhood also carries crime insurance on a portion of those assets against theft, including cyber breaches (source: Robinhood, Crypto security). Is Robinhood Crypto safe goes further into account security.
A standard Coinbase account is custodial, which means Coinbase controls the private keys to your coins. Most customer assets sit in offline storage, and the share kept online has extra cryptographic protection. Coinbase Wallet is the non-custodial app, so you keep the login and recovery details yourself, and losing them can mean losing the coins for good. Crypto exchanges also sit outside the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), whose membership is made up of traditional brokerage firms (source: Investopedia, Coinbase Review).
The custody risk that matters most is what happens if the custodian itself fails. In a May 2022 quarterly filing, Coinbase warned that customer crypto in its custody could be pulled into bankruptcy proceedings, with customers treated as general unsecured creditors. Coinbase is also the world's biggest bitcoin custodian, holding nearly 12% of all bitcoin in existence (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase).
Robinhood's version of the self-custody exit is Robinhood Wallet, a separate app where you hold the private keys. You can fund it by transferring supported crypto from your Robinhood Crypto account. A backup is the only way to recover the wallet if you lose or reset your phone (source: Robinhood, Robinhood Wallet). The difference between the two Robinhood products is set out in Robinhood Crypto and Robinhood Wallet compared. If you plan to hold for years, decide where the coins will live before you decide where to buy them.
Robinhood Crypto vs Coinbase regulation and derivatives
Robinhood Crypto is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as a money services business (source: Robinhood, Crypto security). Coinbase has been a public company on Nasdaq since a direct listing on April 14, 2021. It joined the S&P 500 on May 19, 2025 (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase).
The FinCEN registration puts Robinhood Crypto under the Bank Secrecy Act and the money transmitter laws of US states (source: Robinhood, Crypto security). As a listed company, Coinbase files annual reports on Form 10-K with the SEC, which report its revenue and the value of the digital assets on its platform (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase).
Coinbase has the longer enforcement history. In January 2023 it agreed to pay a $50 million penalty to the New York State Department of Financial Services over anti-money laundering allegations. In June 2023 the SEC sued it, alleging that since 2019 it had run its trading platform as a broker, exchange, and clearing agency without registering as any of them. The SEC dropped that lawsuit in February 2025 (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase). In 2021 the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had already fined Coinbase over $6 million (source: Investopedia, Coinbase Review). The wider picture for the brokerage is in Robinhood crypto and SEC regulation.
Coinbase also reaches into derivatives outside the United States. In May 2023 it launched Coinbase International Exchange in Bermuda, where non-US customers can trade bitcoin and Ether futures. On May 8, 2025 it announced the purchase of Deribit, a Dubai-based crypto derivatives exchange (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase). For a US buyer comparing the two apps for spot crypto, those products sit outside the choice, and the coin list, the cost, and custody decide it.
Robinhood Crypto vs Coinbase: which one suits you?
Robinhood Crypto suits you if you already hold stocks there, buy a few large coins such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, and value one app over a printed fee rate. Coinbase suits you if you want a coin outside Robinhood's list, want to stake where Robinhood staking is closed, or want a maker and taker rate before each order.
Many people keep both and buy each coin where it is listed and cheapest that day. Running two accounts is simple as long as you move coins between them, or to a self-custody wallet, only after you know the network fee and have checked the receiving address.
Run these checks before you pick a venue for a specific purchase:
- Confirm the coin is listed on the platform, and on Robinhood confirm whether it can use exchange routing.
- Choose the order type and write down the cost you will pay: the spread, a posted fee, or both.
- Decide whether you will stake, and confirm staking is open in your state.
- Decide where the coins will live after the buy: the custodial account or a self-custody wallet.
- Read the bid, the ask, and any fee on the review screen, and confirm only when they match your plan.
If you live in North Carolina, Robinhood's exchange routing is closed to you, so every Robinhood crypto order you place pays through the spread (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing). A posted maker and taker fee is then only available on another venue, which makes the Coinbase schedule above the direct comparison.
How do you trade bitcoin on BloFin?
Once you have compared the two apps, you may want a venue that shows the order book and the fee rate for bitcoin. If you want another way to trade bitcoin, BloFin offers BTC/USDT Spot and the BTCUSDT Perpetual.
Spot is the coin itself, held in your account. The perpetual is a contract that tracks the bitcoin price with no expiry date and can be closed at any time.
The spot order book shows the bid and the ask, so a market buy fills at the ask and pays the taker rate, while a limit order that rests on the book pays the maker rate when it fills. The perpetual uses margin, so a move against the position can liquidate it, while a spot holding stays bitcoin in the account whatever the price does. Choose spot when you want to own the coin, and the perpetual only when you have already sized the position for a sharp move.
You can work out the trading fee before you send the order. Multiply the order size by the rate for the order type you plan to use: a 1,000 USDT market buy at an example taker rate of 0.10% costs 1 USDT, and each 0.01% of rate adds or removes 0.10 USDT on that size. A limit order lets you choose your price, while a market order fills right away at the best price on the book, so decide which matters more to you before you pick the order type.
Maker and taker rates for both markets are listed on the BloFin fee schedule.
Planning a bitcoin order on BloFin
Set the loss you can accept before you set the size. Say you have 1,000 USDT for bitcoin and can accept losing 50 USDT. On BTC/USDT Spot, a stop-loss 5% below your entry price limits the loss to about 50 USDT before fees, so the full 1,000 USDT position fits that limit.
A tighter stop lets the same 50 USDT cover a larger position, and a wider stop needs a smaller one. Set a profit target as well. If you aim for a 10% gain, the 1,000 USDT spot position is worth about 1,100 USDT at that target, a profit of about 100 USDT before fees, or twice the amount you risked. If the price reaches neither level, decide in advance how long you will hold, and close the position when that time is up.
On the BTCUSDT Perpetual, the position size sets the loss, whatever margin backs it. A 1,000 USDT position loses about 50 USDT on a 5% move, and a position with too little margin can be liquidated before your stop is reached. Place the stop with the order, and check the filled size against the size you planned before you add to the position.
Looking to trade BTC on BloFin? To get started, you'll need to first create a BloFin account, fund your account with cryptocurrency, and navigate to the BTC/USDT Spot trading page or the BTCUSDT Perpetual page.
Frequently asked questions
Can you change the Robinhood routing setting after placing an order?
An order keeps the route it was placed with, and you can switch the setting between orders. A recurring buy uses whatever setting is on when each occurrence is placed, so switching to exchange routing today moves later recurring buys onto that route and leaves earlier ones alone. A coin that cannot use exchange routing keeps its recurring buys on market-maker routing even after the switch (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing).
Why does Robinhood size a limit order using the taker fee?
Robinhood cannot promise that a limit order on exchange routing will fill as a maker, so it sizes the order with the higher taker rate, even if your buying power would cover only the maker fee. The coin quantity you receive is based on that taker rate. If the order does fill at the lower maker rate, the fee difference is credited back to your buying power (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing).
Who are Robinhood's crypto market makers?
Robinhood keeps the names of its partner crypto market makers private. What you can see is the effect of the route. On market-maker routing, a buy fills at the ask and a sell fills at the bid, and Robinhood's payment from the market maker is inside that spread. The order review screen shows both prices before you confirm, so you can judge the cost on each order (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing).
Is Coinbase FDIC insured?
Coinbase carries crime insurance instead of FDIC insurance. That policy covers some of the digital currencies in its systems against theft and cybersecurity breaches, but it excludes losses from someone getting into your account with your own login details, such as a stolen password. Protecting your login, two-factor codes, and recovery details is therefore your part of the security on any crypto account (source: Investopedia, Coinbase Review).
Does Coinbase report crypto trades to the IRS?
Coinbase reports to the IRS on Form 1099-MISC, and activity on the platform can create several kinds of taxable income, such as gains on crypto you sell and income from staking (source: Investopedia, Coinbase Review). Registered users give Coinbase their taxpayer identification, and their transactions are reported to the IRS (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase). Keep your own records of each buy and sell price, because your tax return needs the gain or loss on every sale.
Does Coinbase trade Monero?
Coinbase leaves Monero and other privacy coins off its list. Those coins add anonymity protection, and Coinbase's know your customer (KYC) obligations under anti-money laundering rules keep them off the exchange. The same rules mean every Coinbase trade is tied to a verified identity. If you want a privacy coin, check each venue's list of supported coins before you fund an account (source: Wikipedia, Coinbase).
Researched and written by the BloFin Academy editorial team with AI-assisted drafting. Updated October 2026. Primary sources: Robinhood crypto order routing, Robinhood crypto availability, Robinhood crypto security, Wikipedia's Coinbase article, and Investopedia's Coinbase review. All facts independently verified against cited documentation current as of October 2026.
This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not financial, investment, or trading advice. Crypto assets are highly speculative and can lose value. Do your own research and consult a qualified professional for advice on your situation.