The Explosion of Tokenization in the U.S. Stock Market: The New Financial Wave of the Web3 Era and Robinhood's Global Layout

After Trump took office, the regulation of Crypto Assets in the United States was fully relaxed, and Tokenized Stocks became a super hot topic, with almost all major players participating. This wave is not just about technological innovation; it is also seen as a strategy of "using US debt collateralized USD stablecoins to trade US stocks, making America great again," which is favored by some political figures. On June 30, 2025, two platforms providing crypto services launched xStocks products offered by the Swiss Compliance asset tokenization platform Backed Finance, while Robinhood also launched stock token trading services based on the Arbitrum network in Europe. All of this indicates that the Tokenization of US stocks is about to experience an unprecedented explosion.

1. New Model of Tokenization in US Stocks: Compliance and Efficiency Go Hand in Hand

The current wave of tokenization in the US stock market is significantly different from past attempts, mainly reflected in the improvements in Compliance and trading efficiency. Currently, there are three main models in the market:

Third-party issuance + multi-platform access model (representative service providers: platforms providing encryption services, well-known platforms, and other related platforms): Tokens issued by regulated issuers (such as Backed Finance) that are 1:1 anchored to real stocks, deployed on public chains (such as Solana). Crypto trading service providers serve as access platforms providing matching services, supporting on-chain transfers and DeFi applications, allowing users to trade 24/7 and enjoy corresponding economic benefits (such as dividends). The compliance responsibilities of this model are mainly borne by the issuer, and the platforms providing services generally do not hold securities licenses, with service scope usually excluding U.S. users.

Licensed broker-dealer self-built chain + self-operated issuance model (Representative platform: Robinhood): Stocks tokens are directly issued by licensed broker-dealers, and the underlying assets are custodied, realizing on-chain integration of the entire process of issuance, clearing, and settlement. Robinhood currently provides this service based on Arbitrum and plans to launch its own Layer 2 blockchain, Robinhood Chain, supporting user self-hosting and 24/7 trading. Token holders can receive economic rights to actual stocks (such as dividends). This model has a high level of compliance, suitable for strictly regulated markets, but the technical and compliance thresholds are relatively high, and the number of operational platforms remains limited.

Contract for Difference (CFD) model (representing service providers: platforms that provide encryption services): Through systems like MT5, CFD trading on US stock prices is offered, allowing users to use USDT as margin for leveraged long and short operations without needing to hold actual stocks. This trading model is convenient and suitable for short-term speculation, but users do not enjoy any shareholder rights or dividends. CFDs are financial derivatives and are strictly regulated in the European and American markets, with most platforms only opening to specific offshore market users without a license, and usage by European users may be restricted.

In addition, a crypto service provider is seeking approval from the US SEC to launch tokenization stock trading services within a compliance framework. The proposal aims to issue digital tokens representing stock ownership through blockchain, supporting on-chain settlement and matching. If approved, it will become one of the first compliant platforms to implement tokenized US stock services in the United States.

II. Review and Reflection: Attempts and Failures of Tokenization of US Stocks in the Previous Cycle

The on-chain stocks in the US market are not a new phenomenon. As early as 2017, the concept of STO began to germinate, and during the DeFi Summer of 2020, some projects issued on-chain synthetic stock products. However, most of these attempts ended in failure:

Tokenized stocks of two centralized trading service providers: A giant in crypto derivative products partnered with the licensed German financial institution CM-Equity AG and the Swiss digital asset company Digital Assets AG to launch US stock token trading services. Another large global crypto service provider soon followed suit. However, these services are essentially asset certificates on an internal ledger, with transactions relying on the platform itself, lacking on-chain transparency and composability. Ultimately, one of them went bankrupt due to its own crisis, while the other was forced to delist due to regulatory pressure, both of which suffered setbacks. This reveals a compliance trust issue: once the issuing platform experiences a credit crisis, the tokenized assets held by investors may become unrecoverable.

Terra's Mirror Protocol and Synthetix's decentralized synthetic assets: The Mirror Protocol on the Terra blockchain ecosystem once allowed users to mint synthetic tokens pegged to the prices of US stocks. Synthetix also launched synthetic US stock assets on Ethereum. These models do not require the custody of physical assets, theoretically enabling permissionless global trading. However, Mirror failed due to the collapse of the UST stablecoin, while Synthetix was delisted due to a lack of sufficient user demand and regulatory concerns. This indicates that a purely decentralized stock token model without real asset backing is difficult to sustain, having failed to find a viable business model and product-market fit.

III. Robinhood's Glamorous "Return" and Global Layout

In the wave of tokenization in the US stock market, Robinhood played a key role. The personal experience of its Senior Vice President and Head of Crypto Business, Johann Kerbrat, also confirms the journey of encryption technology from the margins to the mainstream. From reading the Bitcoin white paper in 2010 to now leading Robinhood's gamble on crypto, he has experienced a transformation from a low-level programmer to an industry leader.

Under Kerbrat's leadership, Robinhood Crypto has successively launched several important products:

Robinhood Wallet Launch: A non-custodial wallet with a simple interface, aimed at beginner users.

Support for Bitcoin transfers and on-chain asset withdrawals: Marks Robinhood's transition from a "trading interface" to "crypto infrastructure."

Acquiring a European crypto trading service provider: With over 50 licenses held by this provider, entering the European market is an inevitable choice under the unclear regulatory situation in the United States.

Robinhood recently launched its most ambitious crypto product suite at Cannes:

· Expand the tokenization of US stocks and ETFs in Europe: Open to users from 30 EU and EEA countries, providing access to trading 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, supporting dividend payments, with no commissions or spreads charged by Robinhood. Ultimately, it will migrate to a custom Layer 2 blockchain.

· Launching crypto assets staking services in the United States: Allows users to earn rewards by supporting network operations.

· Offering cryptocurrency perpetual futures in Europe: Providing eligible users with up to 3x leverage.

These measures aim to integrate traditional finance with blockchain-based infrastructure, allowing encryption technology to "disappear" into the background, achieving products that "people use without needing to understand how they work."

IV. Future Trends and Challenges: Can Compliance be Achieved?

Whether this round of tokenization of securities can continue to develop and truly achieve compliance depends on the positive interaction between technological innovation and the regulatory environment.

Regulatory Environment Warming Up: Changes in the political climate in the United States have brought significant shifts to this sector. The Trump administration has signaled a more open stance on crypto regulation, the SEC's attitude has changed, and there has been breakthrough progress in stablecoin legislation at the congressional level. Regulatory frameworks in regions such as Europe and Asia are becoming increasingly clear, with regulations like MiCA providing foundational guidance for security tokens.

Technology and Market Improvements: This round of tokenization securities projects has seen improvements in product design and market fit. Various platforms emphasize the authenticity and transparency of assets, with tokens 100% backed by real assets, and custody and audit information disclosed regularly. The new scheme places greater emphasis on user experience, enabling 24/7 trading, T+0 settlement, fractional trading, and other features.

Challenges still exist: The last mile of compliance implementation still needs to be cleared. In the United States, although the regulatory atmosphere is warming up, there is still a need for clear legal provisions to truly allow retail investors to trade on-chain stocks. The lack of liquidity in the secondary market remains a problem, as tokens usually can only be traded on specific platforms, lacking direct arbitrage paths with traditional financial markets. Moreover, for crypto traders pursuing high volatility, the price fluctuations of U.S. stocks are relatively limited, making it a challenge to attract purely crypto users.

Conclusion:

The new wave of tokenization securities is backed by a more favorable policy environment and more mature technological solutions, providing a more solid foundation than the previous cycle. If regulatory openness and industry self-discipline advance in tandem, tokenized US stock products are expected to gradually move towards sustainable development, becoming an organic bridge connecting traditional financial markets and the Web3 world. Of course, this process will be gradual: only when the market truly identifies user demand pain points and provides unique value (such as achieving 7×24 global market connectivity, new liquidity mining opportunities, etc.), can tokenized securities shake off the "concept hype" label and welcome large-scale compliance implementation and widespread application.