Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev is spotlighting “a big problem” that needs fixing in America’s trading market.
“I think there’s a big problem, which is that if you’re a retail investor right now, and you want to invest in [artificial intelligence] – it is very, very clear that they do, judging by the market activity yesterday and overnight on Sunday – you don’t have too many options,” Tenev said Tuesday in an exclusive interview on “The Claman Countdown.”
“The IPO process has gotten cumbersome. Only the biggest companies can do it, and that limits opportunities and upside, too, to retail investors,” he continued. “We now have an administration that’s crypto-friendly and retail-friendly, and we see an opportunity to fix this major problem.”
Robinhood has broken down crypto barriers by democratizing trading on its easy-to-use platform and free, no-commission trades. Now, Tenev wants to lead in the ability to use crypto and invest in companies before they go public.
In a Washington Post opinion piece also published Tuesday, Tenev wrote that this investing revolution is coming, but the U.S. isn’t ready for it.
“You have companies like SpaceX worth hundreds of billions [of dollars], companies like OpenAI and Anthropic that are off limits to investors,” the CEO pointed out to FOX Business’ Liz Claman. “And the right solution is to open up access to these, sort of, previously accredited assets. And I think we can do that in a way that makes sure that customers know what they’re putting their money into and self-certify that they understand the risks.”
When asked whether the rise of “meme” coins and tokens, like $TRUMP and $MELANIA, more recently, degrade the technical and fundamental value behind the currencies, Tenev responded by saying that it moves larger conversations and gives “the power” to anyone who wants to access a global market.
“The fact that it’s so easy and that someone with a computer can set it up and do it in a relatively short amount of time shows you that the technology is valuable. And we just need the regulatory clarity to connect this crypto technology to real world productive assets that are currently regulated as securities,” he explained.
After the groundbreaking Chinese AI app DeepSeek fueled a U.S. tech market sell-off earlier this week, Tenev claimed Sunday marked the second-biggest overnight trading session in the platform’s history.
Robinhood’s customers tend to “buy the dip,” the CEO noted, and A.I. also represents the “next frontier” in what investors want to get their hands on.
“I think that just shows you the power of what can happen if private markets are open,” Tenev said. “They’re private companies whose investors are limited to a very, very small circle of insiders that tend to invest in all of these deals. So I think that the next frontier and democratization of retail investing is going to be making sure that these opportunities are open to retail investors.”