Robinhood has submitted a detailed 42-page proposal to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It has advocated for the establishment of a federal regulatory framework to enable the lawful issuance and trading of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) across the United States.
The proposal outlines a plan to integrate tokenized markets into the existing financial system, aiming to modernize securities laws and provide clarity around digital asset classification.
According to Forbes, Robinhood’s plan seeks to establish regulatory parity between digital tokens and the traditional assets they represent. This includes financial cornerstones such as government bonds and equities. This ‘token-asset equivalence’ would treat tokenized assets legally the same as their physical or conventional counterparts.
A key feature of the proposal is a call for a unified federal framework to replace the current state-by-state securities compliance requirements. Robinhood argues that such a standardized approach would align digital asset transactions with traditional market standards, simplify compliance, and boost institutional participation in tokenized markets.
Central to Robinhood’s vision is the launch of the Real World Asset Exchange (RRE). This is a new platform where users can store, trade, and access tokenized assets. This includes bonds, funds, real estate, and commodities. The RRE will leverage offchain matching engines to accelerate trade execution and onchain settlement systems to ensure transparency.
To meet global compliance standards, the platform will integrate Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) protocols through technology partners Jumio and Chainalysis. This innovation could reduce settlement times in US capital markets from the current T+2 days to near-instant T+0, potentially lowering trading costs by around 30%.
Also Read: Robinhood Eyes Blockchain-Powered EU Platform to Tokenize US Stocks
The proposal by Robinhood comes at a time when tokenized assets are gaining a ton of currency from injected interest both by digital asset startups and traditional financial players. In late April, BlackRock set plans to create a blockchain-enabled share class for its Treasury Trust Fund.
The SEC has yet to weigh in on Robinhood's filing, although regulators have traditionally been wary about digital asset regulation. Unperturbed by the regulatory status, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev showed optimism about their strategy: ‘RWA tokenization represents a new paradigm for institutional asset allocation. Robinhood is committed to leading this trend under a compliant framework.’