Robinhood CEO: Uncertainty in Tokenization Rules in the US Holds Back Serious Assets

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev stated that uncertainty surrounding the long-term rules of tokenization in the US might deter investors from directing significant funds to tokenized markets, even though the SEC has opened a temporary path for blockchain stock trading this year. He mentioned this on Tuesday during the third-quarter earnings call.

Tenev welcomed the SEC's exemption for innovation but noted that additional rules or legislation are needed. “I really think more needs to be done to give people a bit of certainty: when we talk to clients, the uncertainty of what will happen in five years probably prevents significant assets from being placed on this technology,” he said.

Tokenized stock offerings have faced resistance from issuers: Microsoft, Alphabet, and Goldman Sachs were among 16 companies opposing the offering of their stocks on the OKXICE platform.

Binance Research forecasts the tokenized stock market to grow to $349 billion by 2030 under the baseline scenario, up from $4.43 billion as of September 15. Robinhood offers about 200 stock tokens on the Robinhood Chain: they are backed by underlying stocks but structured as tokenized debt securities, providing economic exposure without shareholder rights. Therefore, their structure does not fall under the SEC exemption, which requires equal rights, including dividends and voting.

The crypto division's revenue fell 55% year-over-year to $120 million, with the nominal volume of crypto trading down 38% to $50 billion. In the Robinhood app, trading volume decreased by 48% to $21 billion, while in Bitstamp, it dropped by 28% to $29 billion. Revenue from event contracts increased sixfold to $173 million, with the number of contracts more than sevenfold to 16.4 billion. Total revenue rose by 12% to a record $1.42 billion but fell short of expectations; earnings per share were $0.60, 4 cents below the forecast.