A record intraday price of $112 pushed Robinhood over the thirteen-figure mark just hours after US lawmakers approved sweeping digital-asset rules, giving traders a fresh reason to pile in.
Vlad Tenev’s commission-free broker closed the week as the hottest ticket on Wall Street—and, for the first time, a bona-fide mega-cap.
Record-Breaking Friday Sends HOOD Past the Century Club
Robinhood Markets Inc. leapt 8 per cent in New York on Friday, touching $112 and lifting its market capitalisation above $100 billion for the very first time.
Thirty days ago the stock sat near $81; the move therefore represents a startling 38 per cent gain—basically an old-school melt-up on modern meme steroids.
Investors have been snapping up shares ever since the firm previewed a tokenised-stocks feature for European clients, convinced fresh revenue streams can justify what, you know, looks like a fintech valuation from 2021 all over again. Reuters
Washington Gives Crypto a Green Light, Markets Cheer
Congress, in a late-night sitting on 17 July, approved the first federal framework for US-dollar-linked stablecoins. Reuters
Barely 24 hours later it waved through a broader market-structure package seen as a win for exchanges and brokerages such as Robinhood. Politico
The two-bill volley jolted sentiment:
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GENIUS Act – licences stablecoin issuers under bank-style rules. Reuters
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CLARITY Act – plants the SEC and CFTC side-by-side over spot and derivatives trading. Politico
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Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act – bars the Fed from launching a retail digital dollar, a clause cheered by privacy hawks. Vanity Fair
Lobbyists called it “Crypto Week”; sceptics muttered “Too fast, too soon.” Either way, Capitol Hill finally moved from gridlock to go-signal.
Tokenised Shares: Tiny Pool, Big Splash
Market data compiled by CoinMarketCap puts the total capitalisation of on-chain equities at under $27 million—a flea next to global stock markets. CryptoRank
Liquidity is so thin that Amazon’s tokenised share, AMZNX, traded at prices up to 300 per cent away from the real thing, an eye-watering gap that shows how brittle order books still are. Wall Street Journal
Metric | Tokenised equities (on-chain) | Traditional global equity market |
---|---|---|
Total market cap | < $27 m | $124 trn |
Sources: CoinMarketCap, World Federation of Exchanges (Feb 2025). CryptoRankWikipedia
Analysts warn that, until volumes deepen, spreads will stay wild and price signals messy—hardly ideal if Robinhood hopes for mainstream uptake. Wall Street Journal
European Launch Puts Robinhood in Front
On 30 June the broker switched on zero-commission stock tokens for EU users, covering more than 200 US names. Reuters
New sign-ups even received OpenAI and SpaceX tokens worth roughly €5 each, a cheeky promotion that set Twitter alight. Nasdaq
Regulators were less amused; London and Brussels have already called for briefings. Bloomberg.com
The company has also tossed a bespoke Layer-2 blockchain into the mix, hoping faster settlement will fend off rivals and calm settlement risk. GlobeNewswire
Still, critics point to the row over private-company tokens—OpenAI never granted permission, and rumours swirl of legal push-back. AnaChart
It ain’t over yet.
Valuation Jitters Meet Index Speculation
At $100 billion Robinhood suddenly sits within spitting distance of S&P 500 inclusion—Chevron’s Hess deal leaves a vacant slot. Barron’s
Year-to-date, the share price is up roughly 200 per cent, outpacing every big US broker and stoking chatter of a 2021-style bubble. Investing.comNasdaq
Will the stock settle or will crypto-happy punters keep punching the buy button? That, dear reader, is the $100-billion question.