Robinhood's high-profile product launch at the Cannes Film Festival in summer has completely set off the competition among on-chain brokers

Can a brokerage firm disrupt not just the commission system, but the entire underlying architecture of global asset trading? Robinhood seems to have its own answer. At the recently concluded conference in Cannes, France, this giant that has stirred up the American securities industry with zero commissions, threw out an imaginative vision: using blockchain and tokenization to comprehensively push stocks, derivatives, and even private equity on-chain, and ultimately build a new Layer2 public chain called Robinhood Chain that can carry global real-world assets.

This conference was more than just a product list; it was Robinhood's declaration of its blueprint for the next decade. The European, American, and global markets were demarcated with different breakthrough points, yet interconnected, jointly depicting a new trading order driven by tokenized assets. This article will be divided into three parts, deeply analyzing this "on-chain brokerage" strategy by combining the conference information and industry background.

Targeting the European Market: Tokenized US Stocks + Perpetual Futures + All-in-One Investment App

Robinhood views European users as the vanguard of its tokenization strategy, which is not hard to understand: the EU recently implemented MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation), with clearer regulations compared to the US, and Robinhood's penetration in the EU is far from saturated.

Robinhood announced at the conference that over 200 US-listed stocks and ETFs will be tokenized for trading through Arbitrum Layer2, allowing European users to buy and sell these tokenized stocks on the Robinhood platform just like trading digital currencies. Due to Robinhood's introduction of on-chain synchronized settlement mechanism, rights such as dividends and stock splits will automatically update in token holders' accounts. Users don't even need to learn complex blockchain details, almost imperceptibly gaining a 24/5 tradable US stock token market.

Robinhood says it will continue to expand tokenized targets by the end of the year, planning to cover "thousands of US stocks and ETFs". Technically, all transactions will currently be completed by Robinhood collaborating with traditional brokers to purchase stocks and mint equivalent tokens, ensuring 1:1 real holdings, with plans to gradually migrate this process to its self-developed Robinhood Chain to achieve cross-chain and self-custody capabilities.

In addition to tokenized stocks, Robinhood also announced the launch of Perpetual Futures trading in Europe, with Bitstamp providing trading matching and clearing support. This is the first deep integration since Robinhood's $200 million acquisition of Bitstamp last year. Robinhood specifically emphasized user experience innovation for perpetual futures: on the mobile interface, previously complex margin and stop-loss/take-profit configurations have been simplified to slider operations, allowing retail investors to access advanced leverage tools at a lower threshold.

To echo these major updates, Robinhood renamed its European app from "Robinhood Crypto" to "Robinhood", positioning it as an All-in-One investment super app that integrates cryptocurrencies, tokenized stocks, and perpetual futures, aiming to establish a first-mover advantage in the 31 EU countries + EEA.

Most unexpectedly, Robinhood announced a "private equity token" plan at the conference: starting July 7th, European Robinhood users can claim the first batch of tokenized equity for SpaceX and OpenAI. This means Robinhood is pioneering breaking the traditional mode where private equity has long been monopolized by the wealthy and institutions, opening shares of the world's most notable tech startups to retail users in token form.

This approach actually responds to a long-discussed question in the blockchain community: how can ordinary people fairly participate in future wealth accumulation? Robinhood's answer is—private equity must also be tokenized, with equal access.

Targeting the US Market: Advanced Crypto Trading + AI Assistant + Staking

If Europe is Robinhood's tokenization testing ground, the US is undoubtedly its most solid user base battleground. Robinhood used this conference to simultaneously release product upgrades for the US market, intending to solidify its position as the "preferred platform for active traders" through in-depth tools and richer investment scenarios.

First, Robinhood announced the launch of staking products in the US, initially supporting Ethereum and Solana, and removing the minimum staking threshold. During the event, users can enjoy a 2% deposit bonus, regardless of staking amount. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev repeatedly mentioned another meaning of staking: it's not just a way to earn rewards, but an opportunity for each user to participate in maintaining network security. He said: "Blockchain security comes from people, and staking is also Robinhood's way of wanting to incorporate users into the co-construction of the financial system."

In terms of trading tools, Robinhood's flagship product Legend (currently mainly on desktop) announced that advanced charts, indicator customization, and depth order book functions will be migrated to mobile this summer. This move is particularly attractive to mobile traders, as previously Robinhood's mobile functions differed significantly from the professional desktop version.

Complementing Legend, Robinhood also launched Smart Exchange Routing functionality, searching for optimal liquidity across multiple exchanges and automatically routing, calculating rates dynamically based on 30-day rolling trading volume, with rates as low as 0.1%, while eliminating the traditional maker/taker distinction. This logic is highly similar to the "smart quote routing" commonly used in the stock market, representing a key step in attracting large-scale and quantitative crypto traders.

Additionally, Robinhood released an AI investment assistant called Cortex at the conference, which will be available to Robinhood Gold users, providing comprehensive analysis integrating market dynamics, on-chain large transfers, token news, and even company financial reports. Cortex's goal is to help users understand the fundamental reasons behind digital asset fluctuations, not just provide simple price alerts.

Finally, the Robinhood Gold credit card (Rabbit Gold Card) will add a "crypto cashback" feature, allowing cardholders to automatically convert daily spending cashback into selected cryptocurrencies. Robinhood states this is an innovation in "breaking the cash cashback logic", intending to seamlessly connect users' daily lives with on-chain asset management.

Overall, Robinhood in the US market is upgrading from a "zero-commission broker" to an "on-chain asset management one-stop platform", with staking, AI, credit cards, and smart routing all reflecting Robinhood's deeper cultivation of user lifecycle management.

Global Strategy: Robinhood Chain + Private Equity Tokens + Full Ecosystem On-Chain

All the products mentioned above will ultimately converge into Robinhood's "global strategy"—Robinhood Chain.

Robinhood Chain, evolved from the Arbitrum technology stack, is positioned by Robinhood as the "first Layer2 public chain dedicated to real-world assets". It will not only carry Robinhood's tokenized stock trading but also support future tokenization of all categories of real-world assets, including real estate, bonds, art, and carbon credits.

At the conference, Vlad Tenev outlined a "three-stage" plan:

Stage One: After user orders, Robinhood's US broker purchases stocks from traditional exchanges and custodies them, with Robinhood generating and distributing tokens, ensuring 1:1 correspondence with physical assets

Stage Two: Integration of Bitstamp and TradFi liquidity, enabling continued trading even when traditional stock markets are closed (such as weekends and holidays)

Stage Three: Fully unlocking tokens' self-custody and transfer capabilities, allowing users to cross-chain migrate these Robinhood-generated assets to personal wallets or other DeFi protocols

In other words, Robinhood Chain is not just Robinhood's "second-layer settlement network", but will also become a public chain ecosystem open to global developers, allowing third-party projects to issue real-world asset tokens on it.