Robinhood Says 24-Hour Tokenized Stock Trading Will Reshape the Market

U.S. online investment platform Robinhood projected that 24-hour trading of tokenized stocks will drive positive changes across financial market infrastructure. The remarks come as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently approved a temporary exemption, making the prospect increasingly realistic.

Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto and Global Business, said at the “XRP Seoul 2026” event held at the Grand Hyatt in Seoul’s Yongsan District on the 3rd: “We are waiting for the SEC’s follow-up announcements,” adding that “24-hour tokenized stock trading will be a remarkable change.”

The SEC approved an “innovation exemption” last month allowing limited trading of tokenized stocks on Tokenized Securities Trading Platforms (TSVs). Under the framework, entities that meet certain conditions and complete required procedures can trade tokenized stocks for five years without registering as a securities exchange.

The exemption permits TSVs to handle “tokenized NMS stocks”—shares traded on the U.S. National Market System (NMS) issued as tokens. The key conditions set by the SEC are as follows:

Additionally, entities supplying their own capital as liquidity to AMM (Automated Market Maker) liquidity pools are not subject to the “dealer” definition. The exemption expires five years after publication in the U.S. Federal Register, and the SEC is also accepting public comments on adjusting the exemption scope and follow-up measures.

With this move, U.S. stocks are expected to become capable of 24-hour trading and rapid settlement, similar to crypto assets. Kerbrat emphasized that blockchain technology can resolve settlement and clearing delays in traditional finance. “In traditional finance, there are pain points with T-plus-several-days settlement and clearing periods,” he said. “Blockchain can solve these problems and improve trading infrastructure.”

Focus on Overnight and Weekend Demand

Robinhood’s focus on 24-hour trading is grounded in actual user behavior. According to Kerbrat, 70% of Robinhood’s trading volume occurs on weekends and during nighttime hours. “This shows people want to trade even late at night,” he interpreted.

He explained that when exchanges operate around the clock, ancillary transactions such as collateralized lending will also become significantly easier. The U.S. stock market currently has fixed regular trading hours, severely limiting liquidity overnight and on weekends. The introduction of tokenized stocks is expected to substantially alleviate these constraints.

Data from independent research firm Kaiko also shows that demand outside regular trading hours is already materializing in actual trades. In September, 71% of tokenized stock trading volume executed on Uniswap occurred outside U.S. regular trading hours, with roughly half taking place when U.S. securities exchanges were completely closed. In 20 of 25 major price movements, weekend tokenized stock movements continued in the same direction as stock price movements immediately after Monday’s open. Robinhood Chain’s tokenized stock trading volume surpassed most other blockchain networks. Robinhood launched the public mainnet of its own blockchain, “Robinhood Chain,” in July 2026 and began offering tokenized stock trading in over 120 countries.

“Once Trust Builds, There’s No Going Back”

Kerbrat predicted that asset tokenization will fundamentally accelerate trading speed. “If all assets are tokenized, they can be traded quickly,” he said. “Once trust builds in 24-hour tokenized stocks, there will be no going back.” He added, “It’s exciting to see this global trend.”

The SEC’s innovation exemption is assessed as a first step in establishing an institutional foundation for the tokenized securities market. However, implementation details and the scope of participating institutions will be finalized through follow-up announcements, making the response speed of actual market participants a key variable.

Robinhood is also independently pushing to expand trading hours while awaiting regulatory clarity. On September 29, Robinhood announced that starting in early 2027, it will enable 24-hour trading, including weekends, for select U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The move extends the five-day, 24-hour trading (24/5) introduced in 2023 to include weekends, with orders executed through overnight trading infrastructure provider Bruce Markets, subject to regulatory approval. This is a separate initiative from tokenized stocks, aimed at extending trading hours for existing U.S. equities.

Asia Is Moving in the Same Direction

Efforts to migrate settlement and trading infrastructure to blockchain are not limited to the United States. In Japan, a review framework involving the Financial Services Agency (FSA), the Ministry of Finance, and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is pursuing the construction of a system for instant blockchain-based settlement of stocks and Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs). The blueprint calls for finalizing development plans by early 2027, with operations targeted for the 2030s. The core concept is to use tokenized central bank deposits as wholesale digital currency to reduce settlement time to near zero—the same direction as the settlement delay problem Robinhood seeks to solve through 24-hour token trading.

Taiwan also passed the Virtual Asset Service Act (VASP Act) in late June this year. As the first dedicated law bringing the virtual asset market into the regulatory framework, it requires virtual asset service providers to obtain approval from Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) and imposes obligations on stablecoin issuers to hold full reserves and custody them in trust with domestic financial institutions.