Robinhood Launches Tokenized Stocks on Layer-2 Blockchain for EU Investors

The move marks Robinhood’s most significant crypto-integrated product to date and signals a new phase in its long-term strategy to merge traditional financial assets with decentralized infrastructure. More than 200 tokenized equities and ETFs are available at launch, including major names like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia. The firm said it will expand this roster over time, and notably, plans to offer tokenized shares of private companies such as OpenAI and SpaceX later this year.

Unlike traditional stock trading, which is confined to market hours, Robinhood’s tokenized assets can be traded 24 hours a day, five days a week, with zero commission fees and instant settlement. Although token holders do not receive voting rights, they are eligible for dividends, and each token is backed 1:1 by the underlying asset, held by a regulated custodian. All trades are executed and settled through a partnership with Swiss-based infrastructure provider SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), ensuring compliance with local financial regulations.

The offering is initially exclusive to the EU, where the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, now entering its enforcement phase, provides a clear framework for digital asset services, giving firms like Robinhood the confidence to experiment and scale.

U.S. customers, for now, are still excluded due to ongoing regulatory uncertainty. However, Robinhood has made it clear that it eventually wants to bring these offerings stateside. Earlier this year, the company submitted a policy proposal to the SEC, urging the agency to establish legal equivalency between tokenized assets and their traditional counterparts, a move that would open the door for on-chain equities in American markets.

What sets this launch apart from similar tokenization initiatives is Robinhood’s ambition to migrate these assets onto its own blockchain. The company is currently developing a proprietary network optimized for capital markets, with high throughput, low transaction costs, and built-in compliance tooling.

While details remain limited, Robinhood has said its blockchain will enable on-chain settlement, programmable dividends, and the eventual issuance of crypto-native financial instruments. It’s a move that would position the company closer to Web3-native platforms like dYdX and Injective, while maintaining the retail focus that helped it upend the brokerage industry during the meme stock craze of 2021.

Johann Kerbrat, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Robinhood Crypto, highlighted the platform’s mission to simplify digital assets for everyday users: “Crypto was built by engineers for engineers, and has not been accessible to most people,” said Kerbrat. “We’re onboarding the world to crypto by making it as easy to use as possible—with the goal of bringing powerful tools into one intuitive platform.”

The launch also puts pressure on competitors like Coinbase, which is currently awaiting SEC approval to offer tokenized stock trading in the U.S. and abroad. While Coinbase has taken a more compliance-focused approach in its engagement with U.S. regulators, Robinhood’s first-mover advantage in Europe could give it a strategic edge as the tokenization race heats up.

Other players in the tokenized asset space include Dinari, Backed Finance, and Franklin Templeton, all of which are exploring different approaches to bringing real-world assets onto public blockchains.

Despite the enthusiasm, challenges remain. Tokenized stocks still face questions around liquidity, custodianship, and investor protection, particularly when trading occurs outside of regulated exchanges. Moreover, the absence of voting rights could make tokenized equity less attractive to institutional investors.

If successful, the model could significantly lower barriers to entry for global investors, especially in emerging markets where access to U.S. stocks is limited by high fees, capital controls, or currency friction.

Robinhood’s tokenization push is part of a broader effort to evolve from a mobile-first stock app into a full-spectrum financial platform. With its crypto wallet, retirement accounts, and now tokenized assets, the company is placing long-term bets on where finance is headed, toward interoperability, automation, and 24/7 access.