Entering the coin stock battlefield, Robinhood aims to be the Nasdaq of the encryption world.

Robinhood VS xStocks, who will come out on top?

Written by: Fairy, ChainCatcher

Editor: TB, ChainCatcher

The era of coin and stock has fully exploded.

Last night, Robinhood, Kraken, and Bybit successively announced their plans for U.S. stock tokenization, officially breaking the dimensional wall of crypto-stock trading.

Among them, Robinhood has boldly thrown out a strategic combination punch, directly transitioning from an internet brokerage to a “crypto-driven all-in-one investment platform.” At the press conference in Cannes, France, it announced its new crypto strategic matrix: tokenized trading of U.S. stocks, Layer 2 public chains, and credit card cashback for purchasing cryptocurrencies.

As soon as the news broke, Robinhood’s stock price surged by 12.77%, reaching a new all-time high.

Robinhood VS xStocks

In the new wave of tokenization in the US stock market, two forces are quietly colliding: on one side, internet brokers represented by Robinhood are entering the cryptocurrency field, while on the other side, crypto-native exchanges like Kraken are reversing their layout in the US stock market. They are approaching the “coin-stock integration” track from two directions, competing for market dominance.

In terms of technology and market strategy, these two forces display distinct differences. Robinhood has chosen Arbitrum as the token issuance chain and is the first to support the European market. In contrast, Kraken’s xStocks is based on the Solana chain, targeting non-U.S. retail customers, and currently does not cover several major markets, including the European Union.

The following is a comparison of these two plans:

The battle of this crypto-stock trading is essentially a collision and fusion of two ecosystems. Internet brokers attract traditional investors to enter the crypto field with their convenience and compliance advantages; crypto exchanges, on the other hand, integrate resources from traditional financial markets to promote a more open financial development. However, with the emergence of high-growth companies like OpenAI and SpaceX offering quality and substantive tokenized assets, the market space for original altcoins and meme coins may be compressed.

Robinhood’s New Matrix for Crypto Strategy

At the press conference, in addition to announcing the major highlight of “tokenized trading of US stocks,” Robinhood also outlined a new blueprint for its cryptocurrency strategy, formulating differentiated development paths for the EU and US markets, aiming to build a complete ecosystem from the trading end to the infrastructure.

The EU is currently the core battlefield. Robinhood has expanded its services to cover 30 EU and EEA countries, reaching over 400 million people. In addition to tokenized trading, Robinhood has also launched crypto perpetual contract products and directly announced the transformation of its European app into a “crypto-driven all-in-one investment platform.”

In the US market, Robinhood is focusing on improving the supporting service system for cryptocurrency trading: it has opened ETH and SOL staking services; the Robinhood Gold credit card will support automatic cashback for buying coins; the AI investment assistant “Cortex” will also be launched, providing token-level intelligent analysis and real-time market interpretation for member users. In addition, US users can now view and sell specific crypto assets by tax lot, allowing for more flexible tax optimization strategies.

The most strategically significant step is that Robinhood is developing its own Layer 2 blockchain. This public chain is built on the Arbitrum technology stack and will eventually support the issuance, trading, and cross-chain bridging of all tokenized assets, becoming the “landing point” and “engine” of the Robinhood crypto ecosystem. If the model proves successful, the digital reconstruction of the entire trillion-dollar TradFi market, including bonds, futures, insurance, and real estate, will accelerate.

Here are seven new optimizations announced by Robinhood:

Image source: @Phyrex_Ni

Why did Robinhood decide to go “All in Crypto”?

Before announcing its new cryptocurrency strategy, Robinhood has begun paving the way for its on-chain layout. In May and June 2025, the company acquired the Canadian compliant crypto platform WonderFi for $180 million and the established exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, respectively. Robinhood’s “all in” approach to cryptocurrency is also not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather based on a profound insight into profit structures, market trends, and regulatory changes.

From the financial data, cryptocurrency has become a major source of income for Robinhood. In the first quarter of 2025, its total trading revenue was 583 million USD, with cryptocurrency trading contributing 252 million USD, surpassing options trading at 240 million USD, accounting for as much as 43%.

In terms of profit margins, the cryptocurrency business is also significantly ahead. According to cutting-edge technology investor Zheng Di, cryptocurrency has become its highest-margin business. The market-making rebate rate for crypto order flow is 45 times that of stocks and 4.5 times that of options. Robinhood earns an average rebate of about 0.35% per order, with actual implicit costs at 0.55%. Importantly, this income is not limited to the rebates themselves but also includes routing premiums and slippage profits.

In addition, the encryption has brought new product possibilities for Robinhood, elevating it from a trading matching platform to a provider of on-chain financial infrastructure.

For Robinhood, cryptocurrency is not just an accelerator of profits, but also a pathway to the next round of financial dominance. What it is betting on is not just a change in asset forms, but a complete reconstruction of the financial infrastructure.

The tokenization of US stocks may just be the first step; the bigger picture is a new type of financial order that is built on blockchain, open and efficient.