Everyone is talking about it

I am sitting in the train and will arrive in a couple of mins. So let's be quick:

• Robinhood's Tokenized Stocks - The biggest announcement from EthCC in Cannes that has the entire crypto world buzzing and even traditional finance taking notice.

• What ARE Tokenized Stocks? - Breaking down what it actually means when we tokenize companies like Tesla or OpenAI, and Robinhood's three-phase implementation plan.

• Coinbase vs. Robinhood - Not competitors but complementary players reshaping finance. How their different strategies (super-app vs. infrastructure provider) position them for the $10 trillion wealth transfer.

• Berlin FOMO - Updates from the w3.hub I've been missing while enjoying "Hotel Mama" in Frankfurt before heading to Amsterdam.

• Nuggets - From the first SOL staking ETF and Deutsche Bank's crypto custody plans to Figma's $70M Bitcoin treasury and Coinbase's latest acquisition.

GM from the train to Amsterdam. While I'm mentally preparing myself to survive a bachelorette party with the girls I went to school with, I'm scrolling through my X timeline.

EthCC in Cannes is top of mind, and between all the white party videos, one announcement has overshadowed everything else: Robinhood tokenized stocks.

That's what we'll be talking about today. And also how much I miss the w3.hub in Berlin after making myself comfortable for almost 2 weeks at “Hotel Mama” in Frankfurt.

There's literally no way you missed this one. The entire crypto world has been buzzing about it. Even my trusted business and finance podcasts/newsletters that normally wouldn't touch crypto with a ten-foot pole are all over this story.

Robinhood decided the French Riviera was the perfect backdrop for their latest marketing stunt. And let's be honest – it worked brilliantly.

What Actually Happened?

At a fancy estate outside Cannes during EthCC, Robinhood unveiled what might be its most ambitious crypto move yet: Tokenized US stocks, synthetic derivatives of private companies (yes, including OpenAI), and plans for a Layer 2 blockchain specifically built for real-world assets.

The immediate offering? More than 200 US stocks and ETFs available as tokens for eligible European users. Zero commission (though other fees apply), built-in dividend support, and trading available 24/5. Oh, and they're throwing in crypto perpetual futures for EU traders too.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev didn't mince words: "This year is the turning point. The time has come. I want crypto to be useful — not just Bitcoin and memecoins, but something that confers real utility."

But Wait... What ARE Tokenized Stocks?

This was my first question too: What does it actually mean to tokenize companies like Tesla or OpenAI? Where's the blockchain connection? Why do we even need this?

Let me explain it like you're 12:

Imagine you have trading cards. Each card represents a piece of a company (a stock). Normally, these cards can only be traded during certain hours, at specific places, and through special dealers who charge fees.

Now, Robinhood is creating digital versions of these cards on blockchain. These digital cards (tokens) track the price of the real cards, but can potentially be traded:

• At any time (eventually 24/7)

• By anyone with an internet connection

• Without needing all those middlemen

The catch? Right now, these aren't ACTUAL shares. They're more like "stock derivatives" – financial products that mirror stock prices. You don't get shareholder rights, voting powers, or the ability to transfer them to other wallets (yet).

The Three-Phase Master Plan

Robinhood isn't hiding that this is just the beginning. Tenev outlined a three-phase roadmap:

1. Phase 1 (Live Now): Buy/sell 200+ stock tokens within the Robinhood app. These are fully synthetic, held by Robinhood, and created/destroyed with each trade.

2. Phase 2 (Coming Soon): Tokens will be tradable 24/7 via Bitstamp (the European exchange Robinhood recently acquired). Orders will route dynamically between Bitstamp and traditional markets based on liquidity and market hours.

3. Phase 3 (The Dream): Enable withdrawals to self-custody wallets. Tokens will eventually live on a dedicated Layer 2 chain built on Arbitrum Orbit, enabling DeFi use cases like lending.

The OpenAI Drama

The controversy deepened when OpenAI publicly stated they had nothing to do with the "OpenAI tokens" and didn't authorize or endorse their use. They emphasized that these tokens don't represent actual OpenAI equity, and any real share transfer would require their approval.

Awkward.

Why This Actually Matters

Beyond the hype, there are genuine advantages to tokenization:

• Global Access: Offering US equities to international users typically involves a nightmare of infrastructure: clearing houses, custodians, settlement agents, local licensing. Tokenization potentially bypasses all that.

• Operational Efficiency: Instead of juggling different settlement systems like DTCC and Clearstream, everything consolidates in one place.

• Emerging Market Opportunity: For people in countries with limited brokerage access or unstable currencies, tokenized US stocks could be genuinely transformative.

But serious questions remain:

1. Regulatory Clarity: How will taxes work, especially for dividends? Who handles corporate actions like splits or mergers?

2. Consumer Protection: If these aren't real shares but derivatives, what protections do buyers have?

3. Actual Utility: Without self-custody or transferability (for now), how much of this is just marketing vs. true blockchain innovation?

The crypto-skeptic in me wonders if this is just repackaging traditional finance with blockchain buzzwords. The crypto-optimist sees this as a first step toward truly democratizing access to global markets.

Either way, when a company with Robinhood's reach makes a move like this, the whole industry watches.

I love to sound smart and the recent Bankless episode + a couple of Milk Road Newsletters & an amazing article by Artemis made me definitely a bit smarter about the bigger picture:

With Circle's recent successful IPO, Wall Street has signaled its hunger for crypto equity exposure. This puts Coinbase and Robinhood ($85B and $81B market caps respectively) in fascinating positions as they pursue fundamentally different strategies.

Two Different Approaches

Robinhood's Play:

Building the ultimate financial super-app for millennials and Gen Z. They've mastered the mobile-first experience and are expanding from trading into banking, payments, and crypto. Robinhood is betting our generation wants everything in one place.

Coinbase's Play:

Becoming the backend infrastructure provider for the financial world moving on-chain. While maintaining their retail exchange, Coinbase is increasingly focusing on becoming the "AWS of crypto" - providing tools and infrastructure that even traditional banks will use to offer crypto services.

Why This Matters

As one expert put it: "Coinbase is the thesis for the entire world moving on-chain." They're not just competing for retail users - they're trying to be the infrastructure layer powering every financial app.

Some key insights:

1. Coinbase's USDC Advantage: They get 60% of Circle's revenue from USDC as pure profit. With stablecoin usage likely to grow 10x in coming years, this is a massive revenue stream.

2. The Infrastructure Battle: Coinbase has "crypto as a service" products used by 200+ institutions, while Robinhood is launching their own L2 chain to compete with Coinbase's Base.

3. The $10 Trillion Opportunity: Both companies are positioning to capture the massive wealth transfer from boomers to millennials over the next decade - Robinhood through user experience, Coinbase through on-chain technology.

The Real Competition

The most interesting insight? Robinhood and Coinbase might not be direct competitors at all. They're approaching finance from different angles, and both could win enormously.

As one analyst quipped: "Robinhood's developers that launch on Robinhood chain are going to be using Coinbase developer platform to build their apps."

That says it all - we're watching the emergence of a new financial stack where companies specialize in different layers rather than competing across the entire stack.

Both experts agreed on the long-term target: overtaking traditional financial giants like Bank of America ($300B+) and eventually JPMorgan ($800B+).

This isn't Coinbase vs. Robinhood. It's Coinbase AND Robinhood reshaping how finance works for our generation.

I've been back in Frankfurt for almost two weeks now, but that doesn't mean I've been completely disconnected. My Twitter feed and our w3.hub Telegram group have been keeping me updated on all the Berlin crypto happenings I've been missing.

For those of you who haven't visited w3.hub yet, consider this your open invitation. The coffee is strong, the conversations are stronger, and you never know who you might bump into or what project might spark from a random chat.

• First SOL staking ETF goes live, raising $12M on its Wall Street debut. Institutional money continues flowing into crypto through increasingly creative vehicles. Next stop: tokenized stocks? Oh wait…

• Zachxbt exposes yet another scam.

• Deutsche Bank aims to launch crypto custody service in 2026, joining the growing list of traditional financial giants embracing digital assets. Another sign that TradFi is no longer asking "if" but "when" regarding crypto adoption. Germany continues positioning itself as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction in Europe.

• Bolt launches support for stablecoin payments in its checkout system. Another mainstream payment processor embracing crypto, making USDC and other stablecoins available to their merchants. The payment rails are slowly but surely being rebuilt.

• Today we learned Figma has $70M BTC on the Balance Sheet.

• Julius Recap: BTC tests the upper end of its range after a strong Q3 start, but remains range-bound until proven otherwise. Julius maintains a bullish mid-to-high timeframe bias due to the "perfect storm" setup (rate cuts, weak USD, geopolitical relief). He's watching DePIN and Crypto x AI narratives as potentially asymmetric opportunities.

• Coinbase acquires token management platform Liquifi to strengthen its institutional offerings. The acquisition will help institutions manage token vesting, distribution, and governance - another piece in Coinbase's B2B infrastructure play.

• Botanix Mainnet is live!

That’s it.

See you next week 💅🏽

And while we're at it:

I'm on LinkedIn.

I'm on X.

Always here at w3.hub.

Active in the w3.group. Follow on LinkedIn to keep up with our projects.