Robinhood and the sector shift

plus: more China + crypto, market records, weird signs

“We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.” – John Perry Barlow ||

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing well! I have now gotten over my dismay at June being over, and am SO ready to embrace a slow, sultry summer. If only I could figure out how to keep my keyboard from getting so hot.

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Programming note: time for a short summer break – this newsletter will be skipping publication on Thursday July 3rd – Saturday July 5th. 🌞 Back on Monday! 🌞

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IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

• Robinhood and the sector shift

• More China + crypto

• Macro-Crypto Bits: market records, weird stuff and more

If you’re not a premium subscriber, I hope you’ll consider becoming one! You get ~daily commentary on markets, tokenization, regulation and other signs that crypto IS impacting the macro landscape. As well as relevant links and music recommendations ‘cos why not.

WHAT I’M WATCHING:

Robinhood and the sector shift

Against a backdrop of glittering sea and deep blue Cannes sky, the CEO of Robinhood Vlad Tenev and some of his top executives delivered a slick presentation on the trading platform’s crypto plans, with some big pieces of news.

This wasn’t your typical product launch, with more hype than substance. It actually had some big moves in there, which point to an industry trend that confirms the “mainstreaming” of crypto services.

For instance:

• Finally, US platform users now have access to staking on ETH and SOL (this has been available in the EU since last year).

• Perpetual futures will soon be available to EU users.

• Tokenized stocks and ETFs are now available to EU users.

• These will for now run on Arbitrum – but Robinhood is working on its own blockchain.

When I heard that, I may have laughed out loud, not in derision but as an “of course” reflex.

The signal here isn’t more crypto services reflecting the US regulatory thaw, nor is it the relentless march of tokenization (although I’ll have plenty more to say on that in a later post).