Most Influential: Vlad Tenev

Vlad Tenev, CEO and co-founder of Robinhood, has spent the year turning the trading app into a serious player in the crypto industry.

Once known for commission-free stock trades, the company is now building its own blockchain, offering staking services, and expanding across Europe with tokenized stocks.

The biggest move saw Robinhood complete its $200 million acquisition of Bitstamp, one of the longest-running crypto exchanges. The deal brought in over 50 global licenses and opened the door to institutional trading and expansion in the crypto ecosystem.

Robinhood has since launched staking for ether and solana, enabled perpetual futures in the EU, and added more tokens for U.S. users, including XRP, SOL, and BNB. In Europe, users can now trade over 200 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs on Arbitrum-based infrastructure.

That infrastructure is a key part of the company’s future. In July, Tenev revealed Robinhood is building its own layer 2 blockchain, called Robinhood Chain, to power tokenized asset trading with lower fees and faster settlement.

Tenev’s focus on the crypto ecosystem is likely a reflection of his belief in the sector’s future. At Token2049 in Singapore, he likened the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies to a freight train that can’t be stopped, noting that “tokenization is going to eat the entire financial system.”

As Robinhood expands its presence in the crypto ecosystem, it’s also expanding its prediction markets offering.