1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:10,640 Speaker 2: Robinhood sharees are trading at record highs after the brokerage 3 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,040 Speaker 2: introduce a suite of new products at its first ever 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 2: international and crypto focused event in the South of France. 5 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 2: Let's bring in now Robinhood, CEO and co founder of 6 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 2: lad Tenet, who joins US now from can lad. You 7 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 2: are now offering tokenized US securities to customers outside the US, 8 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 2: particularly in Europe where you are. How is this different 9 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 2: from exchange traded products that are already available to investors 10 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 2: in Europe. What do the tokenized versions of these products 11 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 2: offer that existing products don't. 12 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean what we really announced in the EU is, 13 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:44,480 Speaker 3: first we're expanding and we're live now in thirty one 14 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 3: countries across the continent, and we're solving two things with 15 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 3: our tokenized with our stock tokens. One is giving our 16 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 3: EU customers exposure to US equities, which is something which 17 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 3: is one of the most requested feed The second is 18 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 3: really demonstrating the beginnings of what we believe is the 19 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 3: future of the financial system. We think that crypto in 20 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 3: traditional finance will eventually fully merge and the technology will 21 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 3: underpin any tradable asset, and you'll get the liquidity and 22 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 3: the twenty four to seven trading of cryptocurrency applied to 23 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,960 Speaker 3: traditional assets, which I think is a very powerful thing. 24 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 3: It's useful for public stocks and also private stocks, which 25 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,040 Speaker 3: we have the ability to tokenize as well. 26 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 2: Now you're developing your own blockchain to record transactions for 27 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,080 Speaker 2: token is stocks. What's the timeline for that to be 28 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 2: rolled out? 29 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. Well, it's live today on Arbitrum. So 30 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 3: we've been working with the folks on Arbitrum, which is 31 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 3: an Ethereum layer two, for the initial release of our 32 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 3: stock tokens in Europe. But we have been working on 33 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 3: our own chain, the Robinhood chain, and we've been hard 34 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 3: at work. We'd like to have that powering the underlying 35 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 3: infrastructure and all the DeFi elements. We wanted to be 36 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 3: the best chain optimized for real world assets, which I 37 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 3: think is an important niche that's missing in the market, 38 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 3: and for that it has to be secure. Basically military 39 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 3: grade security has to be fast, low cost. So we 40 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 3: felt like that didn't really exist and so we're excited 41 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 3: to bring that to market. 42 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: I am curious flat about the idea of staking, particularly 43 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 1: here in the US obviously a program I believe starting 44 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: today if I have that correct, and also certainly some 45 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: appetite for that amongst European investors. And I'm wondering how, 46 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: if at all, those two elements in the US and 47 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: Europe would differ or be the same. 48 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,839 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, we announced a lot of new products. 49 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:55,919 Speaker 3: You mentioned Staking, which has been live in the European 50 00:02:56,040 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 3: Union for our customers here for many months, and it's 51 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,519 Speaker 3: actually been the number one most requested feature in the US. 52 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,240 Speaker 3: So now that's live, and I think it's two things 53 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 3: that are interesting for Staking. One is from a practical standpoint, 54 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 3: it allows holders in the US to earn yield on 55 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 3: their Ethereum and Solana and expanding to hopefully any stakable 56 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 3: asset in the future. But also, crypto is all about 57 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 3: us coming together individually and collectively to secure the network 58 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 3: and the blockchain. So the participant, the individual, is really 59 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 3: the network, and Staking allows that to be opened up 60 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 3: to the millions of customers on robinhood. So that's what 61 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 3: makes it so exciting for us. 62 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: I am curious as we start to see this ecosystem, 63 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: the broader crypto ecosystem evolve and more importantly expand, and 64 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: you kind of pointed out in your previous response this 65 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: idea that sort of the DeFi world and the traditional 66 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: finance world are starting to overlap in that Ven diagram, 67 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: and I am curious as to what your ambitions are 68 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: for Robinhood. Is this a more of a move of 69 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: a ship where that Ben diagram for Robinhood looks more 70 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: like traditional finance or something in between. 71 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:16,359 Speaker 3: Yeah. Two things. One is I think this is the 72 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 3: year and the time is now for crypto to move 73 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 3: beyond bitcoin and mean coins and introduce fundamental utility. And 74 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 3: that's why we're most excited about tokenization of real world assets, 75 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 3: real world assets with utility being live on blockchains and 76 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:39,360 Speaker 3: taking getting the benefit from everything that crypto technology has 77 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 3: to offer. That's one. Two. We think in the future 78 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 3: crypto and traditional financial services will fully merge and crypto 79 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 3: will become the infrastructure layer behind all kinds of financial services, 80 00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:59,279 Speaker 3: from payments, which are starting to see with stable coins, 81 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,919 Speaker 3: to holding deposits, which has been the realm of traditional 82 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 3: checking and savings accounts. So you'll have stable coins that 83 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 3: pay interest in the future, including USDG, which is the 84 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 3: stable coin that we've helped create, and then of course 85 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:22,559 Speaker 3: investments with tokenized private shares, equity stock tokens as well. 86 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:28,599 Speaker 3: What you're starting to see is the entire financial system 87 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 3: being possible to build on crypto technology. And what we 88 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 3: can do is show what the world looks like if 89 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 3: we rebuild Robinhood entirely on crypto technology. And I think 90 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 3: that's what we're starting to demonstrate. 91 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 2: Well, let's take a little bit of a step back here, 92 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 2: because you have talked about how the US is finally 93 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 2: ready to catch up to the rest of the world 94 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 2: when it comes to being a big player in the 95 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 2: crypto world. But what needs to happen? What's the missing 96 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,159 Speaker 2: ingrediment now for the US to become the true backbone 97 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,160 Speaker 2: of the global financial system when it comes to corporating crypto. 98 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,719 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the bills that are making their way 99 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:10,880 Speaker 3: through Congress, the Genius Bill and the Market Structure Bill, 100 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,159 Speaker 3: are a great step in the right direction. As for tokenization, 101 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 3: we actually believe that there doesn't need to be a 102 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 3: just additional legislation. The SEC has the mandate, the authority 103 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 3: to make tokenization of securities happen, and they're keen to 104 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 3: do it. You know, they've posted a roundtable our crypto 105 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 3: GM Johann was a part of it on tokenization, and 106 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 3: I think that it's going to happen in the not 107 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 3: too distant future. Private companies require reform of the accreditation standards, 108 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:45,839 Speaker 3: which currently shut eighty plus percent of the population out. 109 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:51,600 Speaker 3: So that needs to be completely reformed. But there's actually appetite. 110 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 3: Several members of Congress are interested in taking that on, 111 00:06:55,680 --> 00:07:00,159 Speaker 3: and I believe we can make significant progress on reforming 112 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:05,279 Speaker 3: the accreditation standards as well. It's crazy that these companies 113 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 3: like Opening Eye and SpaceX can be worth hundreds of billions, 114 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 3: can get so much appreciation in the private markets, and 115 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 3: retail is essentially a shut out from that. So that's 116 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 3: that's something that we'd like to fix with our technology 117 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 3: as well. 118 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: All Right, well, you guys have already made a lot 119 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: of progress toward that. Glad really appreciate you taking the time. Also, 120 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: love to suit there. I'll let you get back to 121 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: it fresh off this. 122 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 2: Thanks.