Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev has once again emphasized the transformative potential of tokenization, suggesting that blockchain technology could simplify the process of bringing high-value private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX to public markets.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Tenev pointed to the rapid creation and trading of cryptocurrencies as a model for revolutionizing asset trading.
“You can sit down in front of some software, create a coin, and have it trading in five minutes […] That’s a scary thing,”
he said.
“It’s also an incredibly powerful thing if you juxtapose it with how cumbersome the IPO process is.”
Tenev believes tokenization—digitizing real-world assets on a blockchain—could give retail investors access to high-profile private firms that are currently out of reach. While retail investors can buy shares in companies like Nvidia and Tesla, they are largely shut out of major artificial intelligence firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
A longtime advocate of tokenization, Tenev argued in a January 2025 piece that bringing real-world assets (RWA) on-chain could democratize investment opportunities traditionally reserved for the ultra-wealthy. He suggested that tokenized assets could bridge the gap between accredited investors and everyday traders, allowing broader participation in early-stage, high-growth companies.
However, he acknowledged that realizing this vision requires regulatory clarity. In his latest interview, Tenev stressed the need for clear accreditation and registration rules to ensure crypto-based securities comply with financial regulations. Investors, he said, should be able to “delineate between a company like SpaceX that perhaps has high-quality audited financials and something that’s earlier stage.”
His comments come as Robinhood Crypto, the crypto division of his company, received a major regulatory reprieve. On February 24, Robinhood announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially closed its investigation into the division’s operations. The probe, initiated under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, had targeted potential securities violations and resulted in a Wells notice last May 2024.
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