Macro strategist Raoul Pal commended Robinhood Markets‘ (NASDAQ:HOOD) decision to launch tokenized stock offerings on Monday, describing it as “democratization of finance.”
What happened: In an X post, Pal was reacting to a video of Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev introducing the so-called "stock tokens," which will allow users in Europe to gain exposure to U.S. private companies such as SpaceX and OpenAI.
"The end of public vs. private markets is beginning. Capital formation too is more efficient in crypto markets. Lending markets too," Pal said.
The former Goldman Sachs executive deemed it as “democratization of finance” and predicted that the trend would only accelerate from here.
See Also: Why Crypto Investors Are Receiving Internal Revenue Service Warning Letters
Why It Matters: Robinhood unveiled a suite of products during its event in France for its European customers. Apart from stock and ETF tokens, it introduced cryptocurrency perpetual futures for the EU region.
The firm has made a case to tokenize private stocks, encouraging policymakers to explore the untapped potential of blockchains in the U.S. capital markets. It even proposed a federal framework to the SEC last month for bringing real-world assets on-chain
Some of the most disruptive tech companies in the U.S. are privately held, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Sam Altman-founded OpenAI. SpaceX's valuation is estimated to be around $350 billion
Price Action: Shares of Robinhood rose 3.12% in after-hours trading after closing 12.8% higher at $93.63 during Monday’s trading session, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Year-to-date, the stock has exploded more than 150%.
HOOD exhibited high Momentum and Growth scores as of this writing. Looking to filter out the top performers for a crypto-specific portfolio? Go to Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings.
Photo Courtesy: dennizn on Shutterstock.com
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