Robinhood Revisits GameStop Fallout With Tokenized Stocks Push
Robinhood has introduced plans to maneuver deeper into the crypto realm, to convey tokenized shares, DeFi-style options, and 24/7 buying and selling to the mainstream. CEO Vlad Tenev says the retail-focused buying and selling app plans to roll out self-custody, lending, staking, and round the clock buying and selling for tokenized US equities within the coming months.
The transfer builds on its present European rollout, the place Robinhood already affords greater than 2,000 tokens representing US-listed shares to EU buyers. Those tokens mirror actual shares and even embody dividends – however they commerce on crypto rails as a substitute of conventional market infrastructure. Now, Robinhood is taking that concept a number of steps additional.
“In the approaching months, we’re planning to unlock 24/7 buying and selling and DeFi entry,” mentioned CEO Vlad Tenev.
He additionally famous that customers will have the ability to self-custody their inventory tokens, with “potentialities for lending, staking and extra.”
Robinhood’s plans a direct response to the GameStop period
In an extended put up on X, Tenev tied Robinhood’s tokenization push straight again to the occasions of early 2021. Many recall the controversial GameStop buying and selling halt which left many retail merchants livid and completely distrustful of the platform.
At the time, Robinhood and different brokers had been pressured to limit shopping for on account of giant collateral necessities imposed by clearinghouses. Those necessities had been designed to handle threat through the two-day settlement window for US inventory trades.
“What occurs while you mix gradual, outdated monetary infrastructure with unprecedented buying and selling quantity and volatility?” Tenev wrote. “Massive deposit necessities, buying and selling restrictions, and hundreds of thousands of sad prospects.”
While US markets have since moved from two-day to one-day settlement, Tenev argues that this nonetheless doesn’t totally resolve the core situation. In fast-moving markets – particularly in periods of hype, panic, or social-driven buying and selling – even a one-day delay creates threat that must be absorbed someplace.
And when that occurs, it’s typically retail merchants who really feel the implications first.
Why tokenized shares matter
According to Tenev, tokenization affords a essentially totally different method.
By transferring equities onto blockchains, trades can settle virtually immediately, massively decreasing systemic threat and the necessity for outsized collateral buffers.
“Moving equities on-chain in tokenized type permits them to profit from the real-time settlement properties of blockchain expertise,” he mentioned.
“No prolonged settlement interval means a lot much less threat to the system and fewer stress on each clearinghouses and brokerages, so prospects can freely commerce how they need, when they need.”
Tokenization additionally opens the door to options that conventional markets merely can’t simply assist – issues like native fractional possession, 24/7 markets, and programmable finance instruments like lending and staking. It turns shares into one thing that behaves extra like crypto below the hood, however with out dropping publicity to real-world belongings.
Regulation continues to be the bottleneck
Of course, none of this works with out regulators on board.
Tenev emphasised that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has lately proven a better willingness to engage with tokenization and experimentation, which is a optimistic signal for innovation.
He additionally pointed to the CLARITY Act, a crypto-focused invoice at present moving through Congress, as a key piece of the puzzle.
Tenev additionally argued that laws would assist lock in progress, stopping future SEC administrations from reversing course or shutting down innovation as soon as it’s already underway.
Skepticism isn’t going away however change seems underway
Still, not everybody’s satisfied. Tokenized shares turned a serious speaking level in 2025, with platforms like Kraken and Gemini launching their very own variations.
But their buying and selling volumes stay fairly small in comparison with crypto’s main belongings, and critics fear about points like transparency, backing, and the potential for artificial publicity. All legitimate considerations, particularly given the belief injury left over from the crypto lender collapse of 2021/2022.
Even so, Robinhood’s newest transfer makes one factor clear: tokenization is now not a fringe concept. It’s genuinely being pitched as a core improve to how main markets work.
Whether regulators and retail buyers are prepared to completely purchase into that imaginative and prescient is the actual take a look at forward, however present alerts are indicating that change is within the air.
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