Robinhood, a US-based platform popular among millennials, is looking to strengthen its presence in the cryptocurrency space. To do so, it plans to tokenise a range of European assets. Here’s what that means in practice.
A platform aspiring to become the “blockchain broker”
At an event held in Cannes in 2025, the American platform announced the launch of its tokenised shares. These products allow European investors to purchase shares that can be traded free of charge, 24/7. However, this development is not without its limitations.
In practice, although the shares take the form of tokens, they remain within the Robinhood ecosystem rather than circulating freely on a public blockchain.
In an interview with Cryptoast, Johan Kerbrat explained that there are two main approaches to tokenisation: “You can either tokenise on-chain shares directly or generate share derivatives. We opted for the second option.” Robinhood’s goal, he added, is to support the development of a blockchain-friendly environment rather than build its own infrastructure.
The head of the crypto division views tokenisation as a highly useful technology and aims to make it accessible to a broad customer base. At present, Robinhood offers access to 65 cryptocurrencies, but plans to expand this range in the future.
A strategy already evident in the data
If the figures for 2025 are any indication, the strategy appears to be paying off. Robinhood reports $51 billion in crypto assets, $232 billion in crypto trading volumes, and $1 billion in staking.
To further strengthen its position in the cryptocurrency sector, the company acquired TradeFi for $180 million in May 2025, followed by the purchase of crypto platform Bitstamp for $200 million. According to data from Kaiko, following the Bitstamp acquisition, Robinhood now accounts for between 4% and 6% of crypto trading volumes in Europe.
As part of its tokenisation push, a layer-2 solution has also been launched. A layer 2 is a secondary network built on top of an existing blockchain, designed to handle transactions more efficiently. Its purpose is to reduce fees and make the crypto market more accessible and fluid for users.
Robinhood’s European expansion plans
According to Johann Kerbrat, Europe represents a key growth market for the US platform. Robinhood therefore intends to tokenise the CAC 40, a move that could impact French market capitalisation. The company’s next targets include the art market and real estate, with the aim of making its products more widely accessible.
The tokenisation of tangible assets falls under what is known as RWA (real-world assets). This process involves dividing the value of an asset into smaller units. For example, a Paris apartment valued at €500,000 could be split into 500,000 tokens worth €1 each. Similarly, a work of art could be fractionalised, with digital shares held by multiple investors.
According to estimates from BlackRock, McKinsey and Binance, the tokenisation market could be worth $30 trillion by 2030. If Robinhood succeeds in facilitating the large-scale development of this sector, it could position itself as one of the world’s leading platforms in this field.
Key takeaways from Robinhood’s European plans
Robinhood, a US platform that is particularly popular with millennials, is looking to establish itself in Europe. To achieve this, it plans to enter the tokenised stock market. It has therefore announced its intentions to enter the French stock market, as well as the real estate and art markets. This strategy is set to make Robinhood the company on which the token-based economy relies.
