Robinhood plans to acquire London-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for $200 million in cash to expedite its global cryptocurrency expansion. 

The Associated Press reported that the company's move was its first institutional business, and a deal is expected to close in the first half of the year. 

The agreement came a month after Robinhood Markets announced that it was warned by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about its alleged securities violations in its crypto business.

It said then that it was cooperating with the SEC's investigation.

In addition, Seeking Alpha reported last April that Bitbuy, the cryptocurrency service of digital asset platform WonderFi, acquired Bitstamp's Canadian assets.

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Robinhood Acquires Bitstamp for its Customer Service, Safety Performance

In a statement published Thursday (June 6), Robinhood Crypto general manager Johann Kerbrat said the firm's acquisition of Bitstamp was due to its "highly trusted and long-standing global exchange," which it claimed has shown resilience across several market cycles. 

He added that buying Bitstamp would assure Robinhood that the acquired firm's customer service and safety performance would greatly help its objective of expanding its crypto footprint outside the United States and welcoming institutional customers to Robinhood. 

Kerbat revealed to Fortune that Bitstamp has 50 active licenses across the globe, which attracted the firm to go with the deal.

Shares of Robinhood Markets increased by 2% prior to the market opening.

READ MORE: SEC Warns Robinhood for Possibly Violating Securities Laws With its Crypto Business Operations