With its RTA announcement, Robinhood is entering the tokenized asset space with a significant splash. They are rolling out tokenized stock trading to European users and building their own layer-2 blockchain network. Now the company is expanding new TOKENBX feature, which offers access to private equity token. It will begin by providing fractionalized, or tokenized shares in companies including OpenAI and SpaceX. These innovations are designed to expand investor access to historically exclusive assets and take advantage of the burgeoning tokenized asset market.

The stock token offering has been re-launched on the Ethereum layer-2 Arbitrum. It provides European users access to more than 200 U.S. equities and ETFs, enabling them to trade around-the-clock on weekdays. This effort would be Robinhood’s first foray into providing tokenized assets.

In addition to offering tokenized stocks, Robinhood is building its own layer-2 blockchain network optimized for tokenized assets, which is based on the Arbitrum tech stack. As the first chain built specifically for 24/7 trading, self-custody and cross-chain bridging of tokenized assets, the next evolution of the TBA.

Robinhood has round out its crypto capabilities by acquiring Bitstamp. It is a big deal, because they bought this old-school crypto exchange for $200 million. Trades on Robinhood are routed through Bitstamp. In addition, Robinhood is now introducing so-called perpetual futures, a favored derivative device among crypto traders, to European users.

For context, Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev has been outspoken in favor of constructing U.S. rules to allow securities to be tokenized. He’s passionate about the potential of asset tokenization to democratize investor access to assets currently restricted to the elite.

We will continue to work with regulators and bring the entire Robinhood ecosystem on-chain. - Vlad Tenev

The possibility of the tokenized asset market is huge. In fact, a November 2022 report from Ripple and Boston Consulting Group estimates that the market may expand to $18.9 trillion by 2033. These strategic moves mean Robinhood is well positioned to take a leading market share of this growing market.

That optimism for the market’s reaction to Robinhood’s moves is apparent with the company’s stock performance. Shares of Robinhood (HOOD) soared to a new all-time high of $91, up more than 8% on the day Monday.