Robinhood tokenizes 493 US stocks and ETFs on Arbitrum for EU users

Robinhood has pushed 493 US stocks and ETFs onto the Arbitrum blockchain, opening the gates for crypto-based trading of American assets across the European Union, and the rollout includes 80 new stock tokens added in just the past ten days.

Data from Dune Analytics shows Robinhood’s tokenized assets now exceed $8.5 million in value at press time. Around $19.3 million worth of tokens have been minted overall, while about $11.5 million have already been burned.

Robinhood adds more tokenized stocks for EU users through Arbitrum

Dune’s data also tells us that roughly 70% of Robinhood’s on-chain assets are stocks, with another 24% being exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The rest are:- a tiny sliver goes into commodities, crypto-based ETFs, and even US Treasurys.

The latest names in Robinhood’s batch for stocks are Galaxy (GLXY), Webull (BULL), and Synopsys (SNPS).

Tom Wan, a research analyst who has been tracking the expansion for nearly six months now, said, “Robinhood EU users now have a wider range of US Stocks, Equities, and ETFs, thanks to Tokenization.”

Back in June, Cryptopolitan reported that Robinhood built a dedicated Layer-2 blockchain on Arbitrum just for this purpose, to give European users access to tokenized versions of American securities. But these tokens don’t represent direct ownership of the actual stocks.

Instead, they’re derivatives, tied to the underlying asset prices but regulated under the MiFID II rulebook (that’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, for those keeping track).

The tokens are designed to be cheap and accessible. Robinhood claims there’s no hidden fee beyond a 0.1% FX charge, and you can start trading with as little as 1 euro, about $1.17, and even more, trades are 24/7.

But not everyone’s clapping. In July, the Bank of Lithuania, which handles Robinhood’s regulation in the EU, stepped in and asked the company to explain how these tokens are legally structured. Vlad Tenev, the company’s CEO, said they’re open to that kind of review.

Robinhood pushes tokenization alongside crypto derivatives and acquisitions

The token push comes shortly after Robinhood rolled out micro futures contracts for Bitcoin, XRP, and Solana, dragging crypto deeper into its platform. In May, the company grabbed WonderFi, a Canadian crypto platform, in a deal worth $179 million.

The goal is to expand the global reach and add more regulated crypto activity to the platform.

Robinhood is also trying to push US regulators to catch up, as the company submitted a full proposal to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), asking for a national framework that would oversee all these real-world asset (RWA) tokens under one consistent set of rules.

Even with all that crypto energy, Robinhood’s core business still relies on one thing: trading revenue. Over 50% of its money comes directly from trades, compared to Charles Schwab’s 16%.

Schwab makes most of its money from banking products, retirement funds, and advisor fees. That makes Schwab less vulnerable in a downturn. Robinhood, on the other hand, is built around a younger, less wealthy crowd; you know, folks who might bail if things get tight.

Robinhood knows that. So, over the past few years, it’s added more traditional financial tools to its platform: retirement portfolios, high-yield savings accounts, and most recently, the acquisition of TradePMR, a network of registered investment advisers.

That deal closed earlier this year. Still, its users only hold an average balance of $10,000, which is less than 4% of what Schwab customers typically carry.

The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.