Trading app giant Robinhood (HOOD) shares are up 10 today, trading at all-time highs after announcing a big expansion into crypto.
According to a Robinhood announcement, the retail trading app has launched US stock and exchange-traded fund (ETF) tokens in the EU.
-->The stock tokens will be issued on the Ethereum (ETH) layer-2 blockchain Arbitrum (ARB). Robinhood also announced plans to build its proprietary layer-2 on Arbitrum.
Says GM and SVP of Robinhood Crypto Johann Kerbra,
“Crypto was built by engineers for engineers, and has not been accessible to most people.
We’re onboarding the world to crypto by making it as easy to use as possible—with the goal of bringing powerful tools into one intuitive platform.”
In addition, the trading app giant is introducing perpetual crypto futures in the EU, as well as crypto staking in both the EU and the US.
Comments Robinhood Chairman and CEO Vlad Tenev,
“Our latest offerings lay the groundwork for crypto to become the backbone of the global financial system.”
Last week, Robinhood announced it was rolling out micro-futures for Bitcoin (BTC) and other top crypto assets.
In a podcast interview last year, Tenev said that Robinhood has ambitions to play a role in the merging of AI and wealth management.
“I think there’s two big technology trends that could affect financial services. One is crypto, the other is AI. And Robinhood will be a leader in both. I mean we’re already a leader in crypto, and we’re making lots and lots of investments to make sure we’re the leader in AI.
I don’t think the competition is particularly formidable, but I also think that’s not an excuse to get complacent, so yes, I do think we’re going to be doing a lot. And we also, just recently, announced an acquisition of Pluto, which – it’s basically an AI-based investment research product, so you can put in information about companies and investments.”
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