Five years after the GameStop saga, Robinhood CEO wants tokenized stocks to trade onchain 24/7

Robinhood plans to expand its tokenized stock offering to include round-the-clock trading, near-real-time settlement, and self-custody, as the brokerage pushes deeper into blockchain-based market infrastructure five years after the GameStop trading halt that rattled U.S. equities.

CEO Vlad Tenev said the 2021 episode, when Robinhood and other brokers restricted buying in heavily traded meme stocks such as GameStop, cemented his view that traditional equity settlements are still structurally fragile. The underlying issue, he said, was not volatility itself but the risks created by multi-day settlement cycles that force brokers to post large amounts of collateral during periods of market stress.

"What happens when you combine slow, outdated financial infrastructure with unprecedented trading volume and volatility in a small number of stocks? Massive deposit requirements, trading restrictions, and millions of unhappy customers," Tenev wrote in an X post.

Since then, U.S. equity settlement has shortened from two days to 24 hours. Tenev has credited this as a meaningful improvement but not a complete solution. He argued that even next-day settlement can translate into several days of risk around weekends and holidays, leaving clearinghouses and brokerages exposed in fast-moving global markets.

Tokenization as a solution

Tokenization, Tenev said, offers a more durable fix. By representing stocks as onchain tokens, trades can settle in near-real-time, reducing systemic risk and eliminating the need for trading restrictions driven by clearing and funding constraints, he noted.

Beyond that, tokenized equities also offer features such as fractional ownership and continuous trading, which are not native to traditional market infrastructure.

Robinhood first launched tokenized stocks for European customers in June 2025, offering exposure to more than 2,000 U.S.-listed equities with 24/5 trading. The tokens are currently issued on Arbitrum One and provide access to price movements and dividends without requiring customers to hold the underlying shares directly.

Tenev said the company plans to expand that offering in the coming months by unlocking 24/7 trading and decentralized finance access, allowing users to self-custody tokenized shares and potentially use them in activities such as lending and other onchain financial applications. Robinhood has previously said it plans to support tokenized assets on its own Layer 2 network, Robinhood Chain, to support greater scale and integration.

Regulatory clarity

The strategy places Robinhood at the center of a broader industry push to bring equities onchain, even as regulatory frameworks remain in flux.

Tenev asserted that progress in the U.S. will hinge on clear rules, pointing to the Clarity Act as a key piece of legislation that could compel regulators to establish modern standards for tokenized securities and prevent future policy reversals.

The company has previously engaged with European regulators over its tokenized equity plans and has publicly backed U.S. crypto market structure legislation, arguing that regulatory certainty is necessary for institutional-grade adoption.

Recent guidance from the Securities and Exchange Commission has also clarified that tokenized securities remain subject to federal securities laws, underscoring the need for compliant issuance and trading models.

"Legislation would ensure that subsequent commissions cannot abandon or reverse the progress achieved by this SEC,” Tenev expressed regarding ongoing policy negotiations in Washington. “We can ensure that trading restrictions, as we saw in 2021, never have to happen again."