WEBVTT - Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev Talks European Expansion

0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:07.040
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:10.640
<v Speaker 2>Robinhood sharees are trading at record highs after the brokerage

0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:13.040
<v Speaker 2>introduce a suite of new products at its first ever

0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:15.800
<v Speaker 2>international and crypto focused event in the South of France.

0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:18.200
<v Speaker 2>Let's bring in now Robinhood, CEO and co founder of

0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.040
<v Speaker 2>lad Tenet, who joins US now from can lad. You

0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:24.840
<v Speaker 2>are now offering tokenized US securities to customers outside the US,

0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:27.720
<v Speaker 2>particularly in Europe where you are. How is this different

0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:30.480
<v Speaker 2>from exchange traded products that are already available to investors

0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.560
<v Speaker 2>in Europe. What do the tokenized versions of these products

0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:36.320
<v Speaker 2>offer that existing products don't.

0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:41.800
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean what we really announced in the EU is,

0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.480
<v Speaker 3>first we're expanding and we're live now in thirty one

0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:49.400
<v Speaker 3>countries across the continent, and we're solving two things with

0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:54.560
<v Speaker 3>our tokenized with our stock tokens. One is giving our

0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.640
<v Speaker 3>EU customers exposure to US equities, which is something which

0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.200
<v Speaker 3>is one of the most requested feed The second is

0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.200
<v Speaker 3>really demonstrating the beginnings of what we believe is the

0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:08.160
<v Speaker 3>future of the financial system. We think that crypto in

0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:13.040
<v Speaker 3>traditional finance will eventually fully merge and the technology will

0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:18.200
<v Speaker 3>underpin any tradable asset, and you'll get the liquidity and

0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:23.000
<v Speaker 3>the twenty four to seven trading of cryptocurrency applied to

0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.960
<v Speaker 3>traditional assets, which I think is a very powerful thing.

0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:30.800
<v Speaker 3>It's useful for public stocks and also private stocks, which

0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.040
<v Speaker 3>we have the ability to tokenize as well.

0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.520
<v Speaker 2>Now you're developing your own blockchain to record transactions for

0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.080
<v Speaker 2>token is stocks. What's the timeline for that to be

0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:40.600
<v Speaker 2>rolled out?

0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:46.319
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's right. Well, it's live today on Arbitrum. So

0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:49.120
<v Speaker 3>we've been working with the folks on Arbitrum, which is

0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.680
<v Speaker 3>an Ethereum layer two, for the initial release of our

0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.920
<v Speaker 3>stock tokens in Europe. But we have been working on

0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.920
<v Speaker 3>our own chain, the Robinhood chain, and we've been hard

0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.800
<v Speaker 3>at work. We'd like to have that powering the underlying

0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:07.480
<v Speaker 3>infrastructure and all the DeFi elements. We wanted to be

0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:12.760
<v Speaker 3>the best chain optimized for real world assets, which I

0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:15.440
<v Speaker 3>think is an important niche that's missing in the market,

0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.440
<v Speaker 3>and for that it has to be secure. Basically military

0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.520
<v Speaker 3>grade security has to be fast, low cost. So we

0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:27.120
<v Speaker 3>felt like that didn't really exist and so we're excited

0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:28.160
<v Speaker 3>to bring that to market.

0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.760
<v Speaker 1>I am curious flat about the idea of staking, particularly

0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.640
<v Speaker 1>here in the US obviously a program I believe starting

0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.240
<v Speaker 1>today if I have that correct, and also certainly some

0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:42.120
<v Speaker 1>appetite for that amongst European investors. And I'm wondering how,

0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.960
<v Speaker 1>if at all, those two elements in the US and

0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:46.560
<v Speaker 1>Europe would differ or be the same.

0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:51.839
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean, we announced a lot of new products.

0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:55.919
<v Speaker 3>You mentioned Staking, which has been live in the European

0:02:56.040 --> 0:03:00.960
<v Speaker 3>Union for our customers here for many months, and it's

0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.519
<v Speaker 3>actually been the number one most requested feature in the US.

0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.240
<v Speaker 3>So now that's live, and I think it's two things

0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:12.400
<v Speaker 3>that are interesting for Staking. One is from a practical standpoint,

0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:15.800
<v Speaker 3>it allows holders in the US to earn yield on

0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.919
<v Speaker 3>their Ethereum and Solana and expanding to hopefully any stakable

0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.560
<v Speaker 3>asset in the future. But also, crypto is all about

0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:28.079
<v Speaker 3>us coming together individually and collectively to secure the network

0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:32.320
<v Speaker 3>and the blockchain. So the participant, the individual, is really

0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.280
<v Speaker 3>the network, and Staking allows that to be opened up

0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:39.160
<v Speaker 3>to the millions of customers on robinhood. So that's what

0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:40.480
<v Speaker 3>makes it so exciting for us.

0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.240
<v Speaker 1>I am curious as we start to see this ecosystem,

0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:47.440
<v Speaker 1>the broader crypto ecosystem evolve and more importantly expand, and

0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:49.920
<v Speaker 1>you kind of pointed out in your previous response this

0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.960
<v Speaker 1>idea that sort of the DeFi world and the traditional

0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.640
<v Speaker 1>finance world are starting to overlap in that Ven diagram,

0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.640
<v Speaker 1>and I am curious as to what your ambitions are

0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.240
<v Speaker 1>for Robinhood. Is this a more of a move of

0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.440
<v Speaker 1>a ship where that Ben diagram for Robinhood looks more

0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.000
<v Speaker 1>like traditional finance or something in between.

0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:16.359
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Two things. One is I think this is the

0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.960
<v Speaker 3>year and the time is now for crypto to move

0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:26.120
<v Speaker 3>beyond bitcoin and mean coins and introduce fundamental utility. And

0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:30.240
<v Speaker 3>that's why we're most excited about tokenization of real world assets,

0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:34.400
<v Speaker 3>real world assets with utility being live on blockchains and

0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:39.360
<v Speaker 3>taking getting the benefit from everything that crypto technology has

0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:45.000
<v Speaker 3>to offer. That's one. Two. We think in the future

0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:51.000
<v Speaker 3>crypto and traditional financial services will fully merge and crypto

0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:56.359
<v Speaker 3>will become the infrastructure layer behind all kinds of financial services,

0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.279
<v Speaker 3>from payments, which are starting to see with stable coins,

0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.919
<v Speaker 3>to holding deposits, which has been the realm of traditional

0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:07.920
<v Speaker 3>checking and savings accounts. So you'll have stable coins that

0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.400
<v Speaker 3>pay interest in the future, including USDG, which is the

0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:15.159
<v Speaker 3>stable coin that we've helped create, and then of course

0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:22.559
<v Speaker 3>investments with tokenized private shares, equity stock tokens as well.

0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:28.599
<v Speaker 3>What you're starting to see is the entire financial system

0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:33.440
<v Speaker 3>being possible to build on crypto technology. And what we

0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:36.400
<v Speaker 3>can do is show what the world looks like if

0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:40.560
<v Speaker 3>we rebuild Robinhood entirely on crypto technology. And I think

0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:42.120
<v Speaker 3>that's what we're starting to demonstrate.

0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:44.560
<v Speaker 2>Well, let's take a little bit of a step back here,

0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:46.960
<v Speaker 2>because you have talked about how the US is finally

0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.360
<v Speaker 2>ready to catch up to the rest of the world

0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.200
<v Speaker 2>when it comes to being a big player in the

0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:54.200
<v Speaker 2>crypto world. But what needs to happen? What's the missing

0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.159
<v Speaker 2>ingrediment now for the US to become the true backbone

0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:01.160
<v Speaker 2>of the global financial system when it comes to corporating crypto.

0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.719
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think the bills that are making their way

0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:10.880
<v Speaker 3>through Congress, the Genius Bill and the Market Structure Bill,

0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:15.159
<v Speaker 3>are a great step in the right direction. As for tokenization,

0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.240
<v Speaker 3>we actually believe that there doesn't need to be a

0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.640
<v Speaker 3>just additional legislation. The SEC has the mandate, the authority

0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:27.120
<v Speaker 3>to make tokenization of securities happen, and they're keen to

0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.800
<v Speaker 3>do it. You know, they've posted a roundtable our crypto

0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:33.600
<v Speaker 3>GM Johann was a part of it on tokenization, and

0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.640
<v Speaker 3>I think that it's going to happen in the not

0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:42.240
<v Speaker 3>too distant future. Private companies require reform of the accreditation standards,

0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.839
<v Speaker 3>which currently shut eighty plus percent of the population out.

0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:51.600
<v Speaker 3>So that needs to be completely reformed. But there's actually appetite.

0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:55.240
<v Speaker 3>Several members of Congress are interested in taking that on,

0:06:55.680 --> 0:07:00.159
<v Speaker 3>and I believe we can make significant progress on reforming

0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:05.279
<v Speaker 3>the accreditation standards as well. It's crazy that these companies

0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.120
<v Speaker 3>like Opening Eye and SpaceX can be worth hundreds of billions,

0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.760
<v Speaker 3>can get so much appreciation in the private markets, and

0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:14.920
<v Speaker 3>retail is essentially a shut out from that. So that's

0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.320
<v Speaker 3>that's something that we'd like to fix with our technology

0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:17.720
<v Speaker 3>as well.

0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:19.400
<v Speaker 1>All Right, well, you guys have already made a lot

0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:22.720
<v Speaker 1>of progress toward that. Glad really appreciate you taking the time. Also,

0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:24.720
<v Speaker 1>love to suit there. I'll let you get back to

0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:25.400
<v Speaker 1>it fresh off this.

0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:25.840
<v Speaker 2>Thanks.