Robinhood saw strong interest from private companies in tokenizing their shares after launching its stock token platform in the EU last week.
In an interview with Bloomberg News on Tuesday, CEO Vlad Tenev stated that the company has received numerous inquiries from private enterprises looking to allow retail investors to invest in their equity through blockchain tokens on the platform.
"Since we announced it, I've received a lot of inquiries; private companies actually want to reach out to retail and tokenize their shares to be part of this revolution," he said.
The platform is currently only available in the EU, offering over 200 tokenized U.S. stocks that can be traded five days a week. The platform also includes promotional giveaways of non-tradable tokens representing private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX.
Tenev mentioned that Robinhood's long-term goal is to bring thousands of private companies onto the platform. "We believe this is a huge opportunity to address one of the biggest injustices in capital markets, which is that these large companies are staying private for longer and longer," he said.
However, the launch of the platform has sparked scrutiny. The Lithuanian bank regulating Robinhood in the EU has requested clarification on the structure of the tokens. Tenev stated that the company welcomes this scrutiny.
"They want to ensure everything is compliant because this is a new innovative product. We are very confident. We believe these are not only important but can withstand the most rigorous scrutiny," he said.
These tokens are technically classified as derivatives under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). They are backed by underlying assets held by U.S. brokers and are minted or burned as users buy and sell.
Tenev confirmed that the company is in discussions with regulators in the U.S. and the U.K., but the platform has not yet launched in those markets. He stated that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could approve tokenization without new legislation.
"The U.S. shouldn't fall too far behind. This opportunity is too big to ignore. It's not just for retail; it's for institutions as well. I think they are very interested. The SEC is holding a tokenization roundtable, and we are participating in that," he said.
According to reports, Galaxy Digital stated that Robinhood's tokenization initiative will remove assets from traditional market channels and bring them on-chain, directly challenging the centralized liquidity and activity that major traditional financial exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange rely on.
Cointelegraph reached out to Robinhood for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication.
Robinhood's tokenization initiative comes at a time when there is growing attention on the push to bring assets on-chain.
On Tuesday, Nasdaq-listed BioSig Technologies secured up to $1.1 billion from an undisclosed institutional investor to support its commodity market tokenization plan. The deal includes $100 million in senior secured convertible notes and a $1 billion equity credit facility.
Additionally, the QCD Money Market Fund (QCDT) — a joint initiative by DMZ Finance and QNB — has received approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to become the first tokenized money market fund established in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
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Original article: “Robinhood CEO says private companies are ‘queueing up’ to join tokenized equity platform”
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