Robinhood’s plans to bring stock tokens to the United States could be constrained by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new limits on trading volume and eligible securities, according to Johann Kerbrat, the company’s senior vice president and general manager of crypto and international.
The SEC’s five-year innovation exemption, issued on Sept. 17, creates a route for certain U.S. venues to offer tokenized versions of listed shares without registering as national securities exchanges. Yet the framework also places limits on the number of stock symbols that can be tokenized and the volume that can trade under the exemption. Kerbrat said Robinhood is still assessing how those limits would apply to the company’s existing stock-token activity and whether they could curb service during periods of heavy demand.
The issue places Robinhood’s international token product alongside an emerging U.S. regulatory framework that is more permissive than the agency’s previous approach, but remains tightly controlled. Robinhood already offers stock tokens in more than 120 countries through Robinhood Wallet, though the product is unavailable to U.S. users.
SEC framework ties tokens to shareholder rights
Under the SEC order, eligible tokenized products must represent National Market System stocks and provide holders with the same rights attached to the underlying shares. National Market System stocks include securities listed on major U.S. venues and subject to consolidated market reporting requirements.
That condition goes beyond simply tracking a stock’s price. A tokenized share structure would need to address rights associated with ownership, including economic benefits and corporate voting where applicable. The SEC’s order also requires venues to notify the issuer of the underlying stock before enabling trading, giving companies an opportunity to object.
Robinhood’s current stock tokens use a different legal structure. The tokens are issued as debt securities by a Jersey-based Robinhood entity rather than as direct shares in the companies whose prices they follow. The arrangement has allowed the company to provide exposure to U.S. equities for customers outside the United States, but it leaves open questions about how closely the existing product can fit the SEC’s requirements.
Kerbrat and Robinhood Chief Executive Officer Vlad Tenev said earlier this month that the company intends to add in-kind redemption and voting rights to its stock tokens. In-kind redemption would allow an eligible holder to exchange a token for the related underlying asset rather than cash, a feature that could help connect token trading more directly to traditional equity ownership.
Adding those features would move the product closer to the model contemplated by the SEC order, although Robinhood has not said whether its present token structure would be used for a U.S. launch.
Issuer consent could become a practical hurdle
The requirement to notify stock issuers may prove as consequential as the numerical caps. Companies that do not want their shares represented on a blockchain-based venue would have a formal channel to object, potentially limiting the range of stocks available for tokenization.
Kerbrat referred to the recent criticism from AMC Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron as an example of the tensions that can arise. Aron said last month that AMC had not consented to Robinhood’s stock tokens and described them as illegal offerings. Robinhood’s expansion of token-holder rights appears partly aimed at addressing concerns over whether customers receive a product meaningfully comparable to a share held in a conventional brokerage account.
The SEC’s conditions create a more structured setting for that debate. A venue relying on the exemption would have to operate within limits designed to prevent a pilot program from immediately becoming a high-volume parallel equities market. For Robinhood, which already has a customer-facing token product abroad, the ceilings could be especially relevant if demand for U.S.-listed shares shifts rapidly into a compliant domestic offering.
The company has not disclosed the expected volume of a potential U.S. stock-token service or identified which listed securities it would seek to tokenize.
Perpetual futures plan brings another crypto product onshore
Robinhood is also preparing to expand its U.S. crypto lineup through perpetual futures, a derivatives product that has largely been associated with offshore platforms. On Sept. 29, the company said it plans to enable U.S. perpetual futures trading for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, Cardano, Chainlink and HYPE.
Perpetual futures are contracts that allow traders to take long or short positions without a fixed expiry date. They use periodic funding payments between long and short traders to keep the contract price near the underlying asset’s spot price.
Robinhood said it would initially offer leverage of up to 10 times for Bitcoin and Ether contracts, while the other six assets would carry leverage of up to three times. Higher leverage allows a trader to control a larger position with less collateral, but it also narrows the price movement needed to trigger losses or liquidation.
Kerbrat said changes to those U.S. leverage settings remain “TBD” and would depend on customer behavior and market liquidity. That suggests Robinhood is treating the initial limits as operating parameters rather than permanent terms.
The two initiatives show Robinhood pursuing regulated paths for products that have often developed first outside the United States. Tokenized stocks face a test of whether blockchain settlement and conventional shareholder protections can be combined within SEC safeguards. Perpetual futures face a different challenge: offering leveraged, always-open crypto derivatives under U.S. compliance standards without replicating the looser risk practices common on offshore venues.
Curious about tokenized equities’ future? Explore how they work in depth with this detailed guide today.
Disclaimer: The content on this page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not represent the views or financial advice of Toobit. We make no guarantees regarding the accuracy or completeness of this information and shall not be held liable for any errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from its use. Investing in digital assets involves risk; users should independently evaluate their financial situation and the risks involved. For further details, please consult our Terms of Service and Risk Disclosure.
