Robinhood's on-chain financial breakthrough journey

June 30, 2025, Cannes, France. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev announced a series of major initiatives from the center stage: the Robinhood Chain built on Arbitrum, tokenized trading of US stocks, perpetual futures, ETH/SOL staking, private equity token subscriptions, and the Rabbit Gold Card, which converts cashback from off-chain consumption directly into crypto assets. This launch event, titled "To Catch a Token," actually targets the core of the entire traditional financial system. After the announcement, Robinhood's stock price surged nearly 10%, with a market cap exceeding $76 billion, igniting excitement among both crypto market and US stock investors.

From a "zero-commission" disruptor to an on-chain financial reconstructer, Robinhood is delving into the core of the global financial architecture. This is not just an advancement path for a brokerage but a strategic transformation that spans technology, products, regulation, and traffic entry points. Against the backdrop of relaxed crypto regulation in the U.S. and a global wave of asset tokenization, Robinhood aims to be the first to establish a complete closed loop of "tokenized U.S. stocks + private equity + native Layer 2", creating a new order that supports 24/7 on-chain trading and asset issuance.

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

In 2013, two graduate students from Stanford University, Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt, were inspired by the "Occupy Wall Street" movement and recognized the structural injustices in the traditional financial system. They set out to create Robinhood, a product that precisely addressed user pain points. In 2015, the app was officially launched and quickly gained popularity with its zero-commission, no-barrier securities trading services. By 2018, the number of registered users had reached 4 million, surpassing the traditional brokerage firm E*TRADE, which had a 36-year history, heralding the arrival of the internet securities platform era.

As business models mature, Robinhood is gradually upgrading 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 year-on-year growth of over 8%; total client assets increased to $221 billion, and the average assets under management per user reached $8,566, setting a historical high. The number of paid Robinhood Gold users surpassed 3.2 million in Q1 2025, with a year-on-year growth of 90%, indicating its penetration rate and asset stickiness among young users with medium to high net worth.

Robinhood's ambitions go beyond "bringing assets on-chain"; it is trying to build a complete ecosystem for on-chain asset management, moving towards the positioning of a "crypto version of Fidelity" as a one-stop platform. In 2022, Robinhood launched the non-custodial wallet Robinhood Wallet, allowing users to freely deposit and withdraw BTC and ETH, and integrating with mainstream DeFi protocols; in 2023, it further opened on-chain asset withdrawals; in 2024, it acquired the European exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, obtaining over 50 financial licenses in the UK, EU, Singapore, and integrating its deep liquidity network covering over 5,000 institutions with a round-the-clock trading engine.

The financial report for the first quarter of 2025 shows that the company's total revenue reached $583 million, with the cryptocurrency 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 marks that Robinhood has initially mastered the three core capabilities of cryptocurrency trading access, liquidity engine, and financial services closed loop.

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

At the "To Catch a Token" launch event on June 30, 2025, Robinhood officially escalated its cryptocurrency strategy and clarified its decentralized market layout and product system. The core strategy uses Europe as a forward base, focusing on "tokenized US stocks + perpetual contracts + All-in-One investment App." Technically, over 200 US-listed stocks and ETFs have been tokenized and have gone on-chain through Arbitrum Layer2, enabling users to trade in real-time 24/5 within the App. On-chain dividends and stock split synchronization mechanisms have been launched simultaneously to ensure users have real rights.

Robinhood has fully upgraded its original European app "Robinhood Crypto" to "Robinhood," establishing it as a comprehensive one-stop investment platform. Perpetual contract trading is set to launch in the summer of 2025, with liquidity and clearing support provided by Bitstamp. The mobile UI designed for European users is extremely simplified, achieving the first-ever "on-chain derivatives democratization."

At the same time, Robinhood has opened private token subscriptions for high-potential startups, allowing eligible users to claim tokens within the app. These tokens will be issued based on real equity at a 1:1 ratio, providing a way for ordinary users to directly participate in private equity for the first time through digital assets. To encourage participation, Robinhood has established an "2% deposit reward" incentive mechanism.

In the US market, Robinhood has launched ETH and SOL staking services, waiving the minimum amount requirement and offering a 2% deposit reward. The AI investment assistant Cortex has also officially debuted, prioritizing services for Robinhood Gold users, integrating on-chain data, token news, whale trades, and financial events to generate personalized strategy recommendations and risk alerts.

Behind the tech stack, Robinhood's self-developed "Robinhood Chain" has become a key infrastructure. This Layer 2 public chain built on the Arbitrum tech stack is defined as the first native chain serving real-world assets (RWA). Its three-phase advancement path is clear: the first phase completes the procurement of U.S. stocks and 1:1 token minting; the second phase will integrate Bitstamp into the trading system; the third phase will fully open self-custody of assets and cross-chain migration capabilities. Robinhood stated that the public chain will begin testing at the end of the year and will be fully launched in 2026.

Robinhood's Breakthrough: Challenges of Compliance Risks and Multi-Dimensional Competition

On the journey towards global tokenized finance, Robinhood faces complex and severe policy challenges. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to establish a clear and specific legal framework for security tokens. As Robinhood promotes the tokenization of stocks, ETFs, and private equity, it must find a balance between existing securities laws and emerging blockchain applications, while avoiding regulatory red lines and promoting technological innovation.

The European market regulation is relatively mature, but challenges still exist. The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation 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 among countries but also needs to handle complex issues such as cross-border KYC/AML, investor suitability, and tax reporting.

Industry competition is becoming increasingly fierce. One trading platform has built a complete ecosystem using Layer 2, integrating wallets, trading, staking, and DeFi protocols; another platform is experimenting with a small amount of US stock tokens on the Solana chain; meanwhile, competitors in the European market are deeply cultivating through the "financial supermarket" and "social trading + ETF simulation" models, becoming strong rivals to Robinhood in providing comprehensive investment services.

In the face of multi-dimensional competition, Robinhood has built a triple core moat: as a licensed securities brokerage in the United States, it has legitimate qualifications for securities issuance and trading; the acquisition of Bitstamp has brought international regulatory licenses and liquidity resources from institutional clients; with tens of millions of monthly active users and strong brand recognition, the Rabbit Gold Card credit card achieves seamless connection between off-chain consumption and on-chain asset management.

Despite facing numerous challenges, Robinhood is working hard to create a global digital financial hub for "tokenized US stocks" and diversified RWA. In the future, Robinhood hopes to achieve a "borderless on-chain financial experience" where users do not need to perceive the underlying complexities, making digital assets a daily wealth tool for global investors.