The financial services provider released a flurry of headlines at its keynote event in Cannes, including its own native blockchain.
Fintech giant and online broker Robinhood opened its “To Catch a Token” keynote in Cannes with a bang today, announcing tokenized stocks, perpetual futures, crypto staking — and its own Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain.
Robinhood is launching access to more than 200 different tokenized U.S. stocks and ETF tokens for its European traders, which are eligible to receive dividend payments directly in the Robinhood app. While Robinhood’s tokenized stock trading is debuting with roughly 200 stocks, it is expected to expand to 2,000 offerings by the end of 2025.
The stock tokens will initially be issued on Arbitrum, but will be launched on Robinhood’s own Layer 2 blockchain in the future, which is currently in development. The Robinhood blockchain will be permissionless and is expected to launch “next year,” Robinhood Crypto’s VP and general manger, Johann Kerbrat, said in an interview with The Defiant.
The platform is also introducing crypto perpetual futures with up to 3x leverage, also for its European clients. Perpetuals are not live yet, but are expected to be fully operational by the end of the summer. Orders on the platform are routed through Bitstamp’s perpetual futures exchange, which Robinhood officially acquired on June 2.
The activations will begin exclusive to Europe, on the back of Robinhood’s newly-obtained MiCA (Market in Crypto-Assets Regulation) license, which allows Robinhood’s crypto arm to expand to 31 countries across the EU.
Kerbrat said in an interview that the company is waiting for regulatory approval to roll out tokenized stocks and perpetuals in the U.S.
Robinhood Crypto is rolling out a different set of features for U.S.-based customers — in particular, staking for Ethereum and Solana. The upgrade also comes with an expanded product suite, featuring smart exchange routing for price optimization, advanced charts, and tax lots, which allow U.S. traders to view and sell specific tax lots on their crypto trades in order to optimize taxable gains and losses.
Robinhood’s product manager, Seong Seog Lee told The Defiant that the platform is becoming an “all-in-one investment product powered by crypto.”
“In the EU today you actually can’t buy the most popular U.S. ETFs directly like VOO and SPY, you have to buy an alternative, but stock tokens will give you the opportunity to gain direct exposure there…Users are going to be able to trade stock tokens 24 hours a day Monday through Friday along with, soon, the ability to self-custody your own tokens,” he continued.
Self-custody solutions for tokenized stocks will not be available on day one, but once live, the stock tokens will be able to be transferred to any self-custodial wallet, such as Metamask or Rabby, potentially opening the door to DeFi integrations with stocks and ETFs.
The move is another sign that the line between crypto and traditional finance (TradFi) investment platforms is starting to blur, with many fintechs racing to add both crypto and blockchain-based equities.
Last week, on-chain trading protocol Dinari became the first firm to receive approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer tokenized stock trading services to U.S. clients. Earlier this month, Coinbase’s chief legal officer told Reuters that the exchange giant is actively seeking approval from the SEC to offer the same to its customers.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev co-founded the platform in 2013 with the goal of democratizing finance and improving accessibility for retail traders. Tenev has been an outspoken advocate for crypto and blockchain over the years, and recently claimed the technology will replace traditional finance in the coming years.
The platform is a top-ten broker by assets under administration (AUA), with $255 billion as of May 31. In addition to retail trading infrastructure, the platform’s retirement account usage is up 200% year-over-year, with $14.4 billion in assets under custody (AUC) as of 2025.
As a result, the company’s stock, HOOD, has been on a tear recently and is up 290% over the last year, reaching a new all-time high above $87 per share just today. HOOD commands an over $76 billion market capitalization, and the company has generated $927 million in net revenue, a 50% year-over-year increase, as of its Q1 financial report.
The news comes as crypto-related stocks continue to perform, led by COIN and CRCL in particular. COIN recently reached its own all-time high after announcing the upcoming launch of crypto perpetual futures in the United States on July 21. It remains to be seen whether or not this will serve as a green-light for Robinhood to also offer perpetuals in the U.S.
