Talking Tokenization: How Robinhood's Plan to Bring Stocks Onchain Has Evolved

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The latest Talking Tokenization podcast 🎙️

This week, I interviewed Johann Kerbrat, SVP and GM of Crypto at Robinhood, and AJ Warner, Chief Strategy Officer at Offchain Labs, the team behind Arbitrum.

The conversation explores how Robinhood is bringing U.S. equities onchain through tokenization, starting in Europe, and what that means for global investors. Johann explains how the initiative grew from Robinhood’s crypto division into a larger effort to make stocks, ETFs, and other financial assets tradeable onchain 24/7, while AJ discusses the infrastructure powering it on Arbitrum and how it connects to Ethereum for security.

We discuss how tokenized equities can reduce settlement times, improve transparency, and unlock new use cases like lending pools and fractional investing. The two also touch on regulatory coordination, compliance frameworks, and when “tokenization” itself might disappear as everything financial moves to blockchain rails.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro
01:13 – What tokenization really means
02:27 – Stablecoins as crypto’s first large-scale tokenization success
03:20 – How Robinhood began exploring onchain equities
04:16 – Building for European users & why they started outside the U.S.
05:12 – Scaling from 2 assets to over 400 tokenized stocks and ETFs
06:18 – Robinhood plans for its own blockchain, “Robinhood Chain”
07:20 – AJ on Arbitrum’s role and the value of flexibility in blockchain design
09:00 – Supporting both public and private chains for compliance needs
10:13 – Why Ethereum remains the settlement layer of choice
11:35 – Making blockchain invisible to end users
12:46 – Lessons from stablecoins & how 24/7 trading changes market structure
14:10 – Regulatory challenges and why flexibility across jurisdictions matters
16:07 – Tokenized equities vs. other RWAs like real estate
17:18 – How users will benefit from instant settlement & fractional ownership
18:40 – Private market tokenization and the OpenAI, SpaceX model
20:23 – The path toward democratizing private equity access
22:00 – When tokenization becomes mainstream (and stops being a buzzword)
23:10 – Why Robinhood and Arbitrum see the next decade as onchain finance’s inflection point
25:42 – Final thoughts: collaboration, compliance, and scalability

Sponsored by Securitize, the proven leader in tokenized funds, equities, and private markets. Discover more at securitize.io.

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Money and people moves

1. Coinbase and stablecoin startup BVNK call off $2 billion acquisition (Fortune)

2. China Accuses US of Orchestrating $13 Billion Bitcoin Hack (Bloomberg)

3. Brazil’s Central Bank Sets Crypto Rules, Establishes up to $7M Capital Bar for Firms (CoinDesk)

4. DeFi founder who graduated Harvard at 18 raises $68 million for crypto trading protocol Lighter (Fortune)

5. Adrian Nicholas Radu joins Khosla Ventures as a partner

Talking points for the road

1. For Tether, Rumble’s Northern Data Deal Signals Greater US Goals (Bloomberg)

2. Ethereum Whales on Buying Spree As Crypto Market Pulls Back (Decrypt)

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Please note that this content is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Any views shared should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research. We may have a direct or indirect financial interest in content mentioned in this newsletter.