Robinhood CEO: “Digital assets are at the dawn of structural growth… Tokenization and 24-hour trading are key”

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said he is strongly optimistic about the digital-asset (crypto) market, calling it “the early stages of structural growth.”

On the 11th (local time), in an interview with Bloomberg TV, Tenev said that despite recent price volatility, adoption across the digital-asset industry and the advancement of infrastructure are continuing. “We’re tremendously bullish on crypto,” he said, adding that “over the long term, financial infrastructure will be reshaped around blockchain.”

Tenev in particular pointed to tokenization as a key growth engine. He said a structure that enables 24-hour trading of stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and other real-world assets on blockchain could dramatically improve access for individual investors. “Traditional finance is still tied to business hours and an intermediary-based structure,” he said, emphasizing that “blockchain can shift this to a 24-hour, real-time settlement system.”

Robinhood has been accelerating its expansion into on-chain finance, including launching tokenized versions of U.S. stocks for European users and running tests of its own Layer 2 network. Tenev said the strategy is not simply an expansion of trading services but part of “building an on-chain asset infrastructure.”

On the regulatory environment, he said that “with a clear framework in place, it’s possible to achieve both innovation and investor protection.” He added that recent moves in the U.S. to refine digital-asset regulation could be a positive signal for the broader industry.

As for Bitcoin’s pullback, he drew a line by saying short-term volatility is a natural part of the market cycle, but that the long-term adoption trend remains unchanged. “Technology and infrastructure continue to evolve, and more institutions and individuals are participating,” he said.