Robinhood’s Tenev: Crypto’s Future Isn’t Memecoins – It’s Real-World Assets Onchain

Robinhood believes the future of cryptocurrency lies in tokenising real-world assets rather than expanding the number of speculative digital tokens, according to chief executive Vlad Tenev following the company’s latest tokenised equities launch.

Speaking after Robinhood introduced Stock Tokens, Tenev said crypto’s next phase should focus on assets backed by genuine utility. He questioned the benefit of producing countless memecoins and said productive assets need to be linked to an underlying purpose. Although he expects Bitcoin to remain significant, he sees real-world asset tokenisation as the sector’s primary growth opportunity.

The newly launched Stock Tokens platform allows eligible users to trade tokenised equities 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Robinhood also intends to integrate those assets into lending pools so they can be used as trading collateral within decentralised finance, while exploring access to privately held companies including OpenAI.

Related: SEC Delays Decisions on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP ETFs Until October

Tokenisation Remains Central 

Tenev’s comments come as cryptocurrency markets remain under pressure. Bitcoin changed hands at approximately US$61,601 (AU$89,321) on Thursday, representing a 30% decline for the year. Across the wider market, digital assets have collectively lost around US$1 trillion (AU$1.45 trillion) in value.

Even with those declines, Tenev said the convergence of traditional finance and blockchain technology continues to gather momentum. He pointed to increasing adoption by Wall Street firms and major payments companies, arguing that tokenised financial infrastructure will ultimately bring traditional market activity onto blockchain networks rather than signalling a prolonged downturn for the industry.

Related: Australia’s Crypto Travel Rule Goes Live: Every Transfer Now Needs a Name Attached