Last week, the convergence of the crypto world and traditional finance took a significant step forward. Platforms like Robinhood, Kraken, and Bybit almost simultaneously launched US stock tokenization services, bringing mainstream stocks and ETFs to the crypto market. Notably, Robinhood plans to offer users access to tokenized equity in top-tier private companies like SpaceX and OpenAI, aiming to break down the investment barriers of the traditional primary market.

 

But this is far from the whole story. Listing new assets is merely the prelude to Robinhood's ambitious vision. Its ultimate goal is to leverage blockchain technology to revolutionize the underlying infrastructure of global asset trading. To this end, Robinhood has adopted a phased regional strategy: spearheading its tokenization strategy in Europe—where the regulatory environment is clearer—by launching tokenized trading for over 200 US stocks, perpetual contracts, and an all-in-one investment platform. Meanwhile, on its home turf in the US, the focus is on deepening services and consolidating its core user base by introducing features like crypto staking, an AI investment assistant, and advanced trading tools. All these initiatives will eventually converge into the Robinhood Chain, a public blockchain being built on Arbitrum (with plans for a native chain in the future), dedicated to bringing RWAs like stocks, derivatives, and private equity onto the blockchain.

 

However, a deeper dive into its product structure reveals a gap between vision and reality. According to official documents, the product Robinhood launched in Europe is not the stock itself, but an Over-the-Counter (OTC) contract named “US Stock Derivatives.” The core design of this official product is that all transactions are completed within the Robinhood platform. The user's sole counterparty is Robinhood Europe, and the assets cannot currently be freely transferred on-chain or withdrawn to other platforms. This represents a compliant attempt to "wrap" exposure to traditional assets for crypto users.

 

Adding a dramatic twist, just as the market was digesting this OTC derivative model, on-chain observers discovered that a wallet address associated with Robinhood's official press conference had deployed a series of tokens on-chain, including two named “O” and “S.” On July 6th, when a liquidity pool for the “S” token was created on Arbitrum's Uniswap, market sentiment ignited. Some investors speculated that “O” and “S” represented the private equity of OpenAI and SpaceX, respectively, triggering immediate trading of the “S” token. Its price was once driven up to $415 before gradually falling back to fluctuate around $230. As of now, Robinhood has not officially confirmed any connection between these on-chain tokens and its future products. In this information vacuum, the market has entered a phase of pure speculation and game theory.

 

In contrast to the complexity of Robinhood's model, the xStocks tokens issued by the Swiss asset tokenization platform Backed Finance are already trading 24/7 on several CEXs and on-chain DEXs. According to on-chain data, trading volume is primarily concentrated in top tech stocks and major US stock indices. Although its technical approach is more native, as an emerging asset, its insufficient on-chain liquidity leads to a suboptimal user experience, with price charts frequently showing sharp volatility and “wicks,” highlighting the same gap between vision and reality.