Robinhood CEO urges tokenized stocks to prevent freezes

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev urges tokenizing stocks to prevent trading freezes, citing blockchain's potential for real-time settlement, reduced risk, and efficient, 24/7 trading.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev is advocating for the tokenization of stocks to prevent trading freezes similar to the 2021 GameStop incident. Reflecting on the five-year anniversary of the trading halt, Tenev attributes the disruption to outdated financial infrastructure and slow settlement processes, rather than malicious actors. He believes that moving stocks onto blockchain technology would enable real-time settlement, reduce systemic risk, and ease pressure on clearinghouses and brokerages. Tokenization could also lower trading costs and allow for 24/7 trading, making the financial system more resilient and efficient. Robinhood has already minted thousands of tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs. Tenev urges lawmakers to provide regulatory clarity to support this transition, emphasizing that these changes are crucial to protect retail investors and ensure smoother market operations during periods of high volatility.