Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev Calls for U.S. Leadership in Tokenization Market
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev expressed hopes to collaborate with the government to expand asset ownership, build the next generation of capital markets, and ensure the U.S. remains a leader; his policy focus is on the compliance entry of tokenized stocks in the U.S.
Tenev recently stated that the U.S. financial system is entering a "tokenization supercycle," where tokenization is not just about mapping stocks to the blockchain, but about rebuilding the underlying infrastructure of asset ownership to allow assets to flow as quickly as internet information.
Robinhood has provided tokenized exposure to over 190 U.S. stocks in more than 120 non-U.S. markets, with the related tokens backed 1:1 by the underlying stocks and passing on dividends, but holders do not directly own the underlying shares; this is a core issue regarding the legal attributes of the products, investor rights, and market structure under review by U.S. regulators. thedefiant+1
Robinhood Chain, launched in July, is a permissionless Layer 2 network built on Arbitrum technology and compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, focusing on tokenizing real-world assets, stocks, and AI financial services; the company claims this network became the fastest EVM chain to reach 100 million transactions.
Tenev highlighted instant settlement as a key selling point for tokenized stocks, referencing the 2021 GameStop incident: during that time, the margin requirements imposed by clearinghouses under the traditional T+2 settlement cycle forced Robinhood to restrict purchases of certain stocks. He believes on-chain settlement can reduce risk exposure between trading and clearing, but whether on-chain instant settlement can replace existing exchanges, clearinghouses, brokerages, and securities registration systems still awaits confirmation from U.S. regulatory frameworks.
In terms of market mechanisms, retail and global investors are potential buyers of fragmented, nearly round-the-clock trading and instant settlement, with platforms like Robinhood serving as entry points for the issuance, distribution, and trading of tokenized stocks, while the underlying stocks, custody, clearing, and compliance infrastructure form the supply side. If the U.S. establishes a clear framework, order flow, custodial assets, and securities tokenization services will concentrate among licensed brokerages, exchanges, transfer agents, and on-chain settlement networks; if regulations require token holders to enjoy full shareholder rights, investor protections, and market regulatory obligations, the product design and compliance costs for platforms will rise accordingly.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Robinhood's growth began with a zero-commission brokerage model, combining order flow, mobile interfaces, and fractional share trading to enhance retail access to U.S. stocks; however, the 2021 GameStop incident exposed the reliance on clearing capital and brokerage risk management beneath the surface of "free" retail trading. Tenev's push for real-time on-chain settlement is an attempt to transform the company's most controversial operational limitations into a policy argument for tokenized financial infrastructure.
The capital pathway is shifting from securities trading commissions to a full-chain fee structure for asset tokenization. The platform can generate revenue in the issuance, custody, exchange, lending, cross-border distribution, and stablecoin settlement phases; however, the value lies not just in the chain itself, but in whether it can accurately map the corporate actions, voting rights, dividends, tax obligations, anti-money laundering, and bankruptcy protections of the underlying stocks to token holders. Robinhood's current 1:1 support structure still means token users indirectly rather than directly own stocks, indicating that the reconstruction of asset rights is not yet complete.
This is similar to the historical evolution of American Depositary Receipts and money market funds: investors gain economic exposure to underlying assets, but legal ownership, custody arrangements, and rights transfer are determined by intermediary structures. Tokenized stocks can enhance divisibility and settlement speed, but do not automatically eliminate intermediaries; they merely re-encode the roles of brokers, custodians, and registrars into smart contracts, permission controls, and proof-of-reserve systems.
At its core, this is about restructuring the industry chain. Traditional securities markets distribute trading, clearing, custody, registration, and corporate actions across multi-day, multi-institution processes; tokenization attempts to compress these into continuous, programmable ledger updates. The reliance on regulation is necessary because securities ownership is not just a technical record, but also carries voting, dividend, bankruptcy protection, market manipulation prevention, and tax obligations. True pricing power will belong to the infrastructure that simultaneously controls customer entry, custody of underlying assets, and legal rights mapping, rather than merely platforms that issue on-chain certificates.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
Transactions can go on-chain, but rights must be grounded
The faster the settlement, the clearer the responsibilities
The revolution of ownership is not about tokens, but about registration