Robinhood's on-chain financial strategy: Leading the tokenization wave of US stocks

June 30, 2025, Cannes, France. Robinhood's CEO Vlad Tenev announced a series of remarkable new initiatives from the center stage: the Robinhood Chain built on Arbitrum, tokenized trading of U.S. stocks, perpetual futures, ETH/SOL staking, private equity token subscriptions, and a new type of credit card that directly converts cash back into crypto assets. This launch event, named "To Catch a Token," actually targets the core of the entire traditional financial system. Following the announcement, Robinhood's stock price surged nearly 10%, with a market capitalization exceeding $76 billion, sparking enthusiastic reactions from both the crypto market and U.S. stock investors.

From the disruptive "zero-commission" model to on-chain financial reconfigurers, Robinhood is deeply embedding itself into the global financial architecture. This is no longer a conventional brokerage's path to advancement, but a strategic transformation that spans technology, products, regulation, and user entry points. Against the backdrop of relaxed crypto regulations in the U.S. and a global surge in asset tokenization, Robinhood is attempting to be the first to build a complete ecosystem of "tokenized U.S. stocks + private equity + native Layer2", establishing a new order that supports round-the-clock on-chain trading and asset issuance.

This article will be divided into three parts, starting from the development history of Robinhood, gradually analyzing how this "new financial giant" has transformed from a "cheap and easy-to-use" brokerage into a core force in the tokenization wave of U.S. stocks by leveraging blockchain technology and compliance advantages.

The Rise of Robinhood: From Zero-Commission Innovation to the Beginning of On-Chain Financial Ecosystem

In 2013, two graduate students from Stanford University, Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt, inspired by the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, keenly sensed the structural inequities in the traditional financial system: institutional investors enjoyed trading privileges due to their technological and cost advantages, while ordinary retail investors were hindered by high commissions and complex barriers. With the ideal of "financial democratization" in mind, the two founders, born in the 1990s, set out to create Robinhood, an innovative product that precisely addresses user pain points. In 2015, the app was officially launched and quickly gained popularity thanks to its zero-commission, no-barrier securities trading service. During the early testing phase, it attracted over 50,000 reservations, and the waiting list exceeded one million before the official release. By 2018, the number of registered users on the platform had reached 4 million, surpassing traditional brokerages with a 36-year history, marking the arrival of the internet securities platform era.

As the business model matures, Robinhood's positioning has gradually upgraded from a "free securities platform" to a "new generation financial gateway." By the first quarter of 2025, the platform's deposit users reached 25.8 million, with a quarter-on-quarter growth of over 8%; total customer assets increased to 221 billion USD, and the average assets under management per user reached 8,566 USD, setting a new historical high. This leap not only enhanced Robinhood's asset carrying capacity but also marked a shift in user structure from "novice retail investors" to "the main force of the middle class." Notably, the number of its paid membership users surpassed 3.2 million in Q1 2025, with a year-on-year growth of 90%, fully demonstrating its penetration and asset stickiness among the young high-net-worth user group.

Robinhood's ambitions go far beyond "putting assets on-chain"; it is attempting to build a complete ecosystem for on-chain asset management, moving towards the positioning of a "crypto one-stop platform." As early as 2022, this strategic outline had taken shape. That year, Robinhood was the first to launch a non-custodial wallet, allowing users to freely deposit and withdraw BTC and ETH, and connecting to mainstream DeFi protocols; in 2023, it further opened on-chain asset withdrawals, breaking down the barriers of centralized accounts; in 2024, it acquired a well-known compliant exchange in Europe for $200 million, securing over 50 financial licenses in regions such as the UK, the EU, and Singapore, and integrating its deep liquidity network covering over 5000 institutions with an all-weather trading engine. This deal not only significantly compresses the compliance cycle but also packages Robinhood's institutional service capabilities with a global compliance framework "online," paving the way for its entry into on-chain finance.

From zero commissions to laying out a strategy for crypto, Robinhood has always been at the forefront of the industry, and these strategic changes have quickly brought tangible returns. The Q1 2025 financial report shows that the company's total revenue reached $583 million, with the crypto business contributing as much as $252 million, accounting for 43%, surpassing options ($240 million) and stock trading ($184 million) for the first time, becoming the main source of income. This not only reflects the rapid growth of new businesses such as tokenization of stocks but also signifies that Robinhood has initially mastered three core capabilities: the crypto trading entrance, liquidity engine, and financial services closed loop. As founder Tenev has publicly emphasized multiple times: "Robinhood's ultimate mission is not to become a replica of Wall Street, but to build an on-chain financial underlying system that everyone can access."

The Leap of Robinhood: Opening a New Era of Tokenization of US Stocks and Global On-Chain Investment

On June 30, 2025, at the "To Catch a Token" launch event held in Cannes, France, Robinhood officially elevated its crypto strategy and clearly defined its decentralized market layout and product system for the first time. The core strategy announced at the event positions Europe as a forward base, centered around "tokenization of U.S. stocks + perpetual contracts + all-in-one investment App." Technologically, Robinhood announced that over 200 U.S. listed stocks and ETFs have been tokenized and are on-chain via Arbitrum Layer2, allowing users to conduct 24/5 real-time trading within the App. On-chain dividends and stock split synchronization mechanisms have been launched to ensure users have real rights. By the end of the year, Robinhood plans to expand to thousands of underlying assets, aiming to create the most liquid on-chain securities market with the lowest barriers to entry globally.

In line with this strategy, Robinhood has fully upgraded its original European app into a one-stop comprehensive investment platform. In addition to its existing cryptocurrency trading features, the platform is set to launch perpetual contract trading in the summer of 2025, with liquidity and clearing support provided by the exchange it acquired. The mobile UI designed for European users is extremely simplified, with take-profit and stop-loss, as well as leverage settings all completed via sliders, significantly reducing the learning curve for non-professional users and achieving the "on-chain derivatives democratization" for the first time.

At the same time, Robinhood has opened private token subscriptions for high-potential startups such as SpaceX and OpenAI, allowing eligible users to receive tokens within the app. These tokens will be issued based on real equity at a 1:1 ratio, providing a pathway for ordinary users to directly participate in private equity for the first time in the form of digital assets. This breakthrough changes the market structure that was originally dominated by high-net-worth investors and institutions, promoting "private equity equality" in the context of cryptocurrency. To encourage participation, Robinhood has also established an incentive mechanism of a "2% deposit reward," aiming to maximize the activation of the European market's frontier value in the tokenization reform.

In addition to Europe, the U.S. market, as the core base for Robinhood users, has also been assigned the role of "advanced on-chain experience" in this launch event. The first batch of products includes ETH and SOL staking services, which are fully open in the U.S. market, waiving minimum amount restrictions and offering a 2% deposit reward. Robinhood emphasizes that staking is not only a tool for generating income but also a part of users' participation in network co-construction. At the same time, Robinhood's AI investment assistant Cortex was officially unveiled at the launch event. This assistant will primarily serve paying members, integrating on-chain data, token news, large transactions, and financial events to generate personalized strategy recommendations and risk alerts.

Behind the entire technology stack, Robinhood's self-developed "Robinhood Chain" has become a key infrastructure. This Layer 2 public chain, built on the Arbitrum technology stack, is defined as the first native chain serving real-world assets (RWA). Its three-phase advancement path is clear: the first phase is completed by Robinhood with the procurement of US stocks and 1:1 Token minting; the second phase will incorporate the acquired exchanges into the trading system, ensuring that tokenized assets still have liquidity during traditional market closures; the third phase will fully open the self-custody of assets and cross-chain migration capabilities, achieving real asset sovereignty. Robinhood has stated that the public chain will begin testing by the end of the year and will be fully launched in 2026. At that time, Robinhood will officially evolve from a traditional brokerage platform into a key access layer for the digitalization of global real assets.

Robinhood's Breakthrough: Challenges of Compliance Risks and Multidimensional Competition

On the journey towards global tokenization finance, Robinhood faces the primary challenge of a complex and severe policy gap. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to establish a clear and specific legal framework for security tokens. Robinhood's Chief Compliance Officer, Anna Lee, has candidly stated at several industry forums: "The compliance of tokenizing U.S. stocks, especially at the intersection of traditional securities regulations and blockchain innovation scenarios, still presents many uncertainties and regulatory risks." As Robinhood promotes the tokenization of stocks, ETFs, and private equity, it needs to find a balance between existing securities laws and emerging blockchain applications, pushing technological innovation while avoiding regulatory red lines. Although the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 'RWA Asset Registration and Compliance Exemption Act' in 2024, the bill has yet to enter Senate voting, making it difficult for Robinhood to gain comprehensive legal protection in the short term.

The European market regulation is relatively mature, but challenges still exist. The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) has set a framework for the regulation of crypto assets, but the specific classification and compliance standards for tokenized securities are still being refined. Robinhood not only has to deal with regulatory differences across countries but also has to handle complex issues such as cross-border KYC/AML, investor suitability, and tax reporting, resulting in high compliance costs and complicated execution. David Chen pointed out: "We operate in multiple jurisdictions around the world, and every detail must be rigorously controlled, as it relates not only to compliance but is also the cornerstone of maintaining user trust."

Industry competition is also becoming increasingly fierce. A well-known exchange has built a complete ecosystem using its own Layer 2, integrating wallets, trading, staking, and DeFi protocols, boasting a large native crypto user base and an active developer community; another exchange's xStocks project has experimented with a small number of US stock Tokens on the Solana chain. Although the liquidity is still shallow, it has attracted high-frequency traders due to its extremely low latency; some fintech companies in the European market are deeply exploring through "financial supermarkets" and "social trading + ETF simulation" models, balancing crypto trading with investment education, becoming strong competitors to Robinhood in comprehensive investment services. In the face of multidimensional competition, Robinhood must not only maintain a technological lead but also build insurmountable barriers through compliance and user experience.

Robinhood has currently built a triple core moat. First, as a licensed securities broker in the United States, Robinhood has the legal qualifications for securities issuance and trading, providing a solid legal guarantee for tokenized securities. Second, the acquisition of the European exchange has brought over 50 international regulatory licenses and connected to liquidity resources from more than 5,000 institutional clients, ensuring that the token market remains active and deep during traditional exchange trading hours. Finally, Robinhood has tens of millions of monthly active users, establishing a strong brand recognition especially among the younger generation of investors. Its newly launched credit card crypto cashback feature achieves a seamless connection between off-chain consumption and on-chain asset management, creating a good experience for on-chain without perception.