Robinhood CEO Warns Lack of U.S. Regulation Stifles Security Tokenization Efforts

Current U.S. regulations are blocking a major financial shift that could open up private-market investments to everyday investors through tokenization, CEO of digital brokerage Robinhood Vlad Tenev said.

In a Wednesday opinion piece for the Washington Post, Tenev said that many high-growth companies like OpenAI, SpaceX and Stripe are increasingly avoiding going public, limiting investment access to a small circle of wealthy investors, widening the investment gap between retail investors.

Tokenizing private equity through blockchain technology that underpins crypto markets would allow retail to access companies early in their growth phase, lowering barriers while keeping proper disclosures and investor protections, Tenev argued.

"The world is tokenizing, and the United States should not get left behind," Tenev wrote. "It’s time to update our conversation about crypto from bitcoin and meme coins to what blockchain is really making possible: A new era of ultra-inclusive and customizable investing fit for this century."

However, U.S. regulators, particularly the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), have yet to provide a clear framework and rules for registering security tokens, while other key markets such as the EU, Singapore and Abu Dhabi are already advancing in this area, he said.

He proposed creating a security token registration framework as an alternative to IPOs, providing clear guidelines for exchanges and broker-dealers to support tokenized assets and updating accredited investor rules to allow access based on financial knowledge instead of wealth.

Tokenization is a booming sector at the intersection of crypto and traditional finance that could become a multitrillion-dollar market this decade, per forecasts by McKinsey, BCG, 21Shares and Bernstein . Institutions and even governments are increasingly exploring placing real-world assets like bonds, funds and commodities and real estate on blockchain rails in a digital token form to achieve speedier settlements and broader investor accessibility.

Tenev is the latest high-profile leader in the financial world touting tokenization and calling for clear rules for tokenized securities. Larry Fink, CEO of $10 trillion asset manager BlackRock, recently said that tokenization is the next frontier that will change markets, and urged the SEC in a CNBC interview to "rapidly approve" tokenization of stocks and bonds.