Robinhood CEO Says Real-World Assets, Not Memecoins, Will Drive Crypto’s Future

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said the future growth of the crypto industry depends on bringing real world assets onchain rather than creating tokens without practical use. Speaking to CNBC on Thursday, Tenev argued that assets lacking underlying utility offer little value, questioning the purpose of creating large numbers of memecoins.

Comments Follow Tokenized Stock Launch

The remarks came a day after Robinhood launched Stock Tokens, allowing eligible users to trade tokenized equities around the clock, with plans to let those assets be used as collateral within DeFi lending pools. The company is also exploring ways to give users exposure to private companies such as OpenAI.

Tenev Sees TradFi And Crypto Merging

Asked whether the market is in a prolonged downturn, Tenev pointed instead to a broader convergence between traditional finance and crypto, describing digital assets as infrastructure that will increasingly support financial markets. He said he still views bitcoin as important but expects the next phase of industry growth to center on asset tokenization.

Market Backdrop Remains Weak

The comments come as the broader crypto market has lost roughly $1 trillion in value this year. Bitcoin traded near $61,600 today , down about 30% year to date, even as institutional adoption of blockchain technology continues to expand among Wall Street firms and payment companies.