According to Bloomberg News on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, Robinhood is currently working on a blockchain-powered platform that will enable users to trade US securities in Europe. To achieve this, Robinhood is reportedly considering a partnership with Arbitrum, Ethereum, or Solana.
Presently, Robinhood only offers crypto trading services to its customers in the European Union (EU). However, the firm can now offer stock trading and other investment services in the region after securing a brokerage license in Lithuania last month.
Robinhood’s Strategic Expansion Into The EU
May 7, Bloomberg reported that Robinhood is considering a new blockchain-based platform in the EU.
According to the report, the platform will enable Robinhood to offer stock trading and other investment services to European users. Hence, European retail investors would be able to trade U.S. securities.
Robinhood plans to partner with a digital asset company to facilitate the process. The firm is reportedly considering a partnership with Arbitrum (ARB), Ethereum (ETH), or Solana (SOL) for the potential blockchain layer.
The choice between Arbitrum, Ethereum, and Solana would be influenced by their characteristics, like compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), smart contract capabilities, fees, and throughput.
Close sources revealed that there are ongoing discussions between Robinhood and the two potential partners. However, the parties have not reached a final decision. Also, there is no information as regards the project’s launch timeline.
One thing is sure, the launch of this project will expand Robinhood’s services in the EU beyond cryptocurrency trading.
Prior to this time, Robinhood was licensed in 2023 to provide only crypto trading services to customers in the EU. However, in April, the firm got a brokerage license in Lithuania. This license authorizes Robinhood to offer investment services like stock trading across the region.
Blockchain-Powered Platform For Trading Securities
The report also revealed that the proposed Blockchain platform would tokenize US equities. This would place them on a public blockchain and allow them to be traded by EU users.
Tokenization has become a dominant process for TradFi firms to venture into cryptocurrency. Several firms have launched tokenized assets in the past, with analysts predicting that the market would grow to $23.4T by 2032.
Such infrastructure could provide several benefits across the trade lifecycle, which include greater transparency, lower costs, and faster settlement.
This development will place Robinhood at the intersection of digital assets and traditional finance (TradFi), where innovations and technologies in decentralized infrastructure and tokenization could redefine securities trading across borders.
Further Expansion
Recently, Robinhood signed an agreement to acquire Bitstamp cryptocurrency exchange. However, the acquisition deal is still underway. If the deal is eventually finalized, Robinhood will be able to access Bitstamp’s MiFID-licensed multilateral trading facility, which will open the door to cryptocurrency-linked derivatives in the EU.
Cryptocurrency activities remain an important part of Robinhood’s business. However, the expansion into blockchain infrastructure is expected to further increase Robinhood’s profit and stand in business.
For instance, Robinhood reported $46B in cryptocurrency trading volume in Q1 2024 – an increase of about 28% over the year. Nevertheless, the company’s crypto volume in April reached $8B, a decrease from the $15B monthly average from January to March.
