Robinhood announced token launch that will allow its customers in the EU to trade more than 200 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETF). The US stocks that EU could trade in includes Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft. Robinhood is wanting to tap into global crypto and AI investing boom. Starting June 30, EU users can now buy and sell tokens that represent over 200 U.S.
The Robinhood is going to give EU commission-free tokens that can be traded around-the-clock, five days a week. There is also planning for providing tokens linked to stocks of privately-held companies by Robinhood. These tokens include OpenAI and SpaceX as per a report.
Robinhood’s stock jumps
Robinhood’s stock soared hitting a record high and were last up nearly 10%. The Robinhood stock touched an all-time high of around $92, after the company made a game-changing move in Europe. The stock opened the day at $85.65, hit a low of $85.01, and reached a high of $92.28. Total volume for the day topped 54.7 million shares, pushing Robinhood’s market cap to approximately $36.85 billion.
The Robinhood tokens will be issued through a partnership with blockchain firm Arbitrum.
How Robinhood’s token stocks work?
This feature shall allows EU customers to trade U.S. stocks through blockchain-issued tokens. These tokens represent real stocks and ETFs and are fully backed 1:1. Investors can buy or sell these tokens without any commission, much like cryptocurrencies.
Robinhood’s future plan
Robinhood says it plans to expand availability to 24/7 trading in the future. According to CEO Vlad Tenev, the company also wants to increase its stock token list to “thousands” by year-end.
The company stands to benefit with the move as there is increasing global interest, in the U.S. stock market.
Experts believe such tokens could dramatically alter the securities investing landscape, though they currently lack regulatory clarity in the United States.
Robinhood’s new offerings
Robinhood also announced several new product offerings, including crypto perpetual futures for its EU customers and staking for U.S. users.
The perpetual futures will allow users to make leveraged bets on the prices of cryptocurrencies. Unlike traditional futures, they have no expiry date.
Additionally, U.S. users will get access to staking services, where users can lock up crypto to validate blockchain transactions in return for rewards. This follows recent clarity from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which indicated that some types of staking are not securities offerings, removing some regulatory uncertainty.
