Entering the cryptocurrency battlefield, Robinhood aims to be the Nasdaq of the crypto world

ChainCatcher Selection

2025-07-01 13:49:11

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Robinhood VS xStocks, who will come out on top?

Author: Fairy, ChainCatcher

Editor: TB, ChainCatcher

The era of tokenized stocks is fully ignited.

Last night, Robinhood, Kraken, and Bybit successively announced their plans for tokenizing U.S. stocks, officially breaking the dimensional wall of stock and cryptocurrency trading.

Among them, Robinhood has thrown out a strategic combination punch, directly transitioning from an internet brokerage to a "crypto-driven all-in-one investment platform." At the press conference in Cannes, France, it boldly announced its new crypto strategy matrix: tokenized trading of U.S. stocks, Layer 2 public chains, credit card cashback for purchasing cryptocurrencies, and more.

As soon as the news broke, Robinhood's stock price rose by 12.77%, hitting a new historical high.

Robinhood VS xStocks

In the new wave of tokenized U.S. stocks, two forces are quietly colliding: on one side are internet brokerages represented by Robinhood entering the crypto space, and on the other side are crypto-native exchanges like Kraken reversing their layout into the U.S. stock market. They are approaching the "integration of crypto and stocks" from two directions, competing for market dominance.

In terms of technology and market strategy, these two forces also show distinct differences. Robinhood has chosen Arbitrum as the token issuance chain and is the first to support the EU market. In contrast, Kraken's xStocks is based on the Solana chain, targeting non-U.S. retail customers, and currently does not cover several mainstream markets, including the EU.

Here is a comparison of the two solutions:

This competition in tokenized stock trading is essentially a collision and integration of two ecosystems. Internet brokerages attract traditional investors into the crypto space with convenience and compliance advantages; crypto exchanges integrate traditional financial market resources to promote a more open financial development. However, with the emergence of high-growth companies like OpenAI and SpaceX, which have quality and substantive tokenized assets, the market space for original altcoins and meme coins may be compressed.

Robinhood's New Crypto Strategy Matrix

At the press conference, in addition to announcing the major event of "tokenized trading of U.S. stocks," Robinhood also fully outlined its new blueprint for crypto strategy, formulating differentiated development paths for the EU and U.S. markets, attempting to build a complete ecosystem from the trading end to infrastructure.

The EU is currently the core battlefield. Robinhood has expanded its services to cover 30 EU and European Economic Area countries, reaching over 400 million people. In addition to tokenized trading, Robinhood has also launched crypto perpetual contract products and directly announced that the European app will transform into a "crypto-driven all-in-one investment platform."

In the U.S. market, Robinhood is focused on improving the supporting service system for crypto trading: opening ETH and SOL staking services; Robinhood Gold credit cards will support cashback for automatic cryptocurrency purchases; the AI investment assistant "Cortex" will also be launched to provide token-level intelligent analysis and real-time market interpretation for member users. Additionally, U.S. users can now view and sell specific crypto assets by tax batches, achieving more flexible tax optimization strategies.

The most strategically significant step is that Robinhood is developing its own Layer 2 blockchain. This public chain is built on the Arbitrum tech stack and will eventually support the issuance, trading, and cross-chain bridging of all tokenized assets, becoming the "landing point" and "engine" of Robinhood's crypto ecosystem. If the model proves successful, the digital reconstruction of the entire trillion-dollar TradFi market, including bonds, futures, insurance, and real estate, will accelerate.

Here are the seven new optimizations announced by Robinhood:

Image source: @Phyrex_Ni

Why is Robinhood Determined to "All in Crypto"?

Before announcing its new crypto strategy, Robinhood had already begun paving the way for its on-chain layout. In May and June 2025, the company acquired the Canadian compliant crypto platform WonderFi for $180 million and the established exchange Bitstamp for $200 million. Robinhood's "all in" on crypto is not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather a profound insight into profit structure, market trends, and regulatory changes.

From the financial data, crypto has become Robinhood's main source of revenue. In the first quarter of 2025, its total trading revenue was $583 million, with crypto trading contributing $252 million, surpassing options trading's $240 million, accounting for as much as 43%.

In terms of profit margins, the crypto business also significantly leads. According to cutting-edge technology investor Zheng Di, crypto has become its most profitable business. The market-making rebate rate for crypto order flow is 45 times that of stocks and 4.5 times that of options. Robinhood can earn about 0.35% rebate per order, with an actual implied cost of 0.55%. Importantly, this income is not limited to the rebate itself but also includes routing premiums and slippage gains.

Moreover, crypto has brought Robinhood new product possibilities, transforming it from a platform for matching trades to a provider of on-chain financial infrastructure.

For Robinhood, crypto is not only an accelerator of profits but also a pathway to the next round of financial dominance. What it is betting on is not just a change in asset forms but the reconstruction of the entire financial infrastructure.

Tokenizing U.S. stocks may just be a stepping stone; the bigger picture is a new financial order that is open and efficient, built on a blockchain foundation.