Digital brokerage Robinhood (HOOD) is extending its crypto footprint with a slate of new offerings, including developing its own blockchain network based on Arbitrum
and launching tokenized stocks trading, the company announced on Monday.
The firm also confirmed it’s building its own layer-2 blockchain network optimized for tokenized assets. The upcoming chain, based on the Arbitrum tech stack, is aimed to support 24/7 trading, self-custody and cross-chain bridging of tokenized assets. A release date has not been disclosed, but persons familiar with the matter said it could go live around later this year, early next year.
The company announced it’s opening access to private equity tokens, starting with tokenized shares in OpenAI and SpaceX.
“We will continue to work with regulators and bring the entire Robinhood ecosystem on-chain,” chairman and CEO Vlad Tenev, said during the launch event in Cannes, France.
HOOD shares, traded on Nasdaq, rallied to a fresh record high of $91, advancing over 8% during the Monday session.
Robinhood’s push into tokenized assets comes as competition with digital asset exchanges is heating up to offer a unified trading hub for all kinds of financial instruments. Asset tokenization is a read-hot sector that aims to bring real-world assets including equities, funds, real estate onto blockchain rails promising cheaper, faster and more efficient settlements and around-the-clock trading. It’s potentially a huge opportunity: the tokenized asset market could grow to $18.9 trillion by 2033, a report by Ripple and BCG projected.
A slew of popular crypto exchanges, including Bybit, Kraken and Gemini have just recently started to offer tokenized stocks to users, while Coinbase reportedly also seeks regulatory approval to do so.
Robinhood’s Tenev earlier this year touted asset tokenization as a way to expand investor access that assets that are limited to the wealthy, and advocated for clear U.S. regulations to tokenize securities.
Perps in EU, crypto staking in US
As part of the firm’s crypt push, Robinhood is rolling out perpetual futures, a popular derivative instrument among crypto traders, for European users. Trades are routed through Bitstamp, one of the world’s longest-running active crypto exchange which Robinhood acquired for $200 million.
The firm has also introduced crypto staking for U.S.-based investors starting with Ethereum’s ether
and Solana’s SOL
that lets token holders earn rewards without leaving the application.
Additionally, Robinhood will add crypto rewards to its credit card offering later this fall, allowing U.S. customers to invest cashback automatically in digital assets.
UPDATE (June 30, 15:45 UTC): Adds Robinhood introducing private equity tokens of OpenAI, SpaceX. Adds HOOD price action.
