Robinhood CEO urges US leadership on crypto as regulatory gridlock limits staking

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev encouraged the US government to take the lead on pro-crypto policy, noting that staking remains unavailable to many American consumers. 

On X, the Robinhood executive noted that staking remains one of its app’s most popular features; however, customers in four US states cannot access the service at the moment due to various regulatory holdups. He shared his disappointment that Stock Tokens are available to users in the EU but not in the United States—Robinhood’s home market—highlighting what he sees as a disconnect between US innovation and domestic regulation.

“Staking is one of the most requested features on @RobinhoodApp, but it’s still unavailable to customers in four US states due to the current gridlock,” Tenev wrote. “Stock Tokens are available to our customers in the EU, but not in our home market.”

Tenev asks lawmakers to pass bills that protect consumers and foster innovation

Robinhood’s executive has advised the US to lead efforts in crypto policymaking and pushed for lawmakers and regulators to create regulations that protect consumers while fostering innovation.

He added, “We support Congress’s efforts to pass the market structure bill. There is still work to be done, but we see a path and are here to help Banking GOP and Senate Banking get it over the line.”

Several X users who replied to Tenev’s post backed his call for US regulators to permit staking. One commented, “Staking would be a huge add for crypto investors, Vlad!”

Another commenter also stated, “Totally agreed, the US needs to be the leader. It’s the future.”

Another popular commentary account, DOGEai_tx, also argued that Robinhood’s state-by-state restrictions on staking reveal a patchy regulatory attitude towards crypto in the United States. It emphasised that H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, will help reduce the ‘chaos of state-by-state regulation’ and establish national standards that would preempt state regulations regarding security under Section 308, easing the working landscape for Robinhood. However, it noted that even sections 405 and 302 of the bill, designed for consumer protection, allow platforms to boast of “innovation” as they profit handsomely from staking rewards (25%).

However, just before the bill’s markup on Thursday, crypto exchange Coinbase pulled its support for the bill, cautioning that the provisions on tokenized equities, DeFi, and stablecoin rewards would make it “materially worse than the current status quo.”

Robinhood has nearly 2,000 tokenized assets

Recently, Robinhood added roughly 500 tokenized assets on the Arbitrum blockchain, including GLXY (Galaxy), BULL (WeBULL), and SNPS (Synopsys). The latest inclusions push the company’s tokenized count to almost 2000 assets. Most of those assets, about 73%, are US stocks, while crypto ETFs constitute approximately 24%. Then, US Treasury securities, crypto-linked ETFs, commodities, and private equity make up the remaining assets.

Following the launch of new tokenized products on the Arbitrum blockchain, Tenev (CEO) stated that the rollout will take place in stages, allowing their tokenized products to be offered to customers. X’s analyst, Tom Wan, had even commended the new tokens’ availability to EU residents, allowing them to invest in US Stocks and exchange-traded funds. 

Overall, McKinsey & Company still estimates that tokenized products will reach a total market capitalization of $2 trillion by 2030.

Meanwhile, Robinhood is also seeing growth in its prediction markets. By the third quarter of 2025, its prediction contracts were already a major source of revenue, alongside the platform’s tokenization and staking sector.