CANNES — Robinhood inventory hit the $100 mark for the primary time, capping off per week of contemporary all-time highs and renewed investor confidence. Shares closed up 6.12% Wednesday at $97.98.
Shares are actually monitoring their greatest efficiency since April, up greater than 30% for the reason that buying and selling app was snubbed from the S&P 500.
The milestone follows a serious strategic swing in Europe, the place Robinhood unveiled its most bold crypto enlargement thus far — one geared toward re-engineering the monetary infrastructure itself.
At an occasion held in a Belle Époque mansion alongside the French Riviera, Robinhood executives laid out a imaginative and prescient to carry 1000’s of tokenized shares, ETFs, and personal equities absolutely on-chain.
“This presentation and these merchandise are dual-purpose,” CEO Vlad Tenev instructed CNBC in Cannes. “The primary objective is clearly to ship nice merchandise to customers, however I believe the second objective is to only exhibit very concretely how nice it may very well be if crypto expertise and conventional monetary providers might absolutely merge.”
To that finish, Robinhood has began quietly constructing its personal blockchain, utilizing Ethereum scaling tech to assist 24/5 buying and selling. It additionally launched tokenized shares of OpenAI and SpaceX — corporations not publicly listed — to European customers, marking a shift in how and the place retail buyers can acquire publicity to prime tech names.
“We thought we’d simply ship,” Tenev stated. “We do not need to do a lot speaking. We need to simply put product in clients’ arms.”
Robinhood Crypto basic supervisor Johann Kerbrat echoed that sentiment, saying the corporate is simply getting began.
“Sooner or later, we expect we will develop this to 1000’s of tokens that signify several types of monetary devices — from U.S. shares and worldwide equities to non-public fairness,” he stated. “What we confirmed immediately with SpaceX and OpenAI is only a glimpse of what we’re planning — there’s far more to come back.”
Robinhood’s income rose 50% year-over-year in Q1, and the corporate simply this week launched staking within the U.S. — a function that had beforehand been blocked by regulators.
WATCH: Robinhood Crypto GM discusses digital asset staking launch for eligible U.S. clients
