Unchained Podcast Ep. 983

Title: Inside Robinhood's Big Super App Plan: 'There's Still a Lot of Work to Be Done'
Host: Laura Shin
Guest: Johan Kerbrat, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Robinhood Crypto
Date: December 18, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Laura Shin interviews Johan Kerbrat about Robinhood’s ambitious plan to become a global “super app” integrating crypto, equities, prediction markets, tokenized assets, and more. They dig deep into Robinhood’s crypto journey, user base evolution, offerings like prediction markets, and novel products such as tokenized stocks and the new Robinhood Chain. Johan shares Robinhood's philosophy of democratizing finance, regulatory approaches, and where tokenization and DeFi fit into their vision for the future. The conversation covers competition with Coinbase, future expansion, and the challenges of making crypto accessible for mainstream users.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Robinhood’s Crypto Growth & User Evolution

• Stellar Q3 and Crypto Revenue Growth

  • Robinhood’s crypto revenue tripled year-over-year, attributed to new features, more supported assets, staking, and a focus on advanced traders.

    “We added a lot more assets. We started to offer staking in most US states and focused a lot on advanced trader… The retail customer interest has just grown.” (Johan, 01:46)

• From Meme Mania to S&P 500

  • Despite market turbulence, Robinhood’s founders doubled down on crypto from 2018, believing in its role in the future of finance.

    “They actually decided to launch crypto in 2018, just as most companies were turning away. … They have this very unique capability to understand where the trends are going.” (Johan, 03:12)

  • Joining the S&P 500 was marked mostly by a “congrats and let's keep working” attitude, underlining Robinhood’s relentless focus.

• User Segmentation & Evolution

  • Initially seen as a platform for retail dabbling in crypto, Robinhood now serves advanced traders (perps, staking), DeFi users (with a self-custody wallet), and those interested in cross-asset strategies.

    “We now have all the advanced customers ... to people that are really into more leverage ... to people that just want to hold. ... For a lot of them, they didn’t have a retirement account until they started to trade crypto…” (Johan, 08:22)

The Super App Vision & Competitive Edge

• Super App Definition & Philosophy

  • Robinhood sees itself as the first to successfully blend multiple asset classes (stocks, crypto, ETFs, prediction markets, retirement accounts) in one app, simplifying investing and finance for all experience levels.

    “Robinhood was the first and perfect example of the super app… It’s about putting the customer at the center of everything, with a UI and UX that at this point has not been equaled.” (Johan, 11:55)

• Competing with Coinbase and Others

  • Robinhood acknowledges competition, especially with Coinbase moving into similar markets (prediction markets, tokenized stocks), but highlights their focus on user research and seamless design as differentiators.

    “I think what makes Robinhood unique... is how we put the customer at the center ... We spend a lot of time with our customers to understand what they like or don’t like…” (Johan, 13:16)

Product Highlights and Innovations

• Prediction Markets

  • Partnership with Kalshi and Susquehanna Group to expand prediction/futures products. Prediction markets are Robinhood’s fastest-growing segment, increasing access to sophisticated hedging tools for ordinary users.

    “It’s giving very advanced tools to a lot of customers that didn’t necessarily have these tools before… And a lot of contracts are closer to the individual, like a mayor election.” (Johan, 16:17)

• Tokenized Stocks & Tokenization Engine

  • Over 1,000 tokenized US stock and ETF tokens for European customers.
  • The in-house tokenization engine can extend to other asset types: private equity, real-world assets, real estate, or art.

    “We built the tokenization engine ourselves ... we can expand to any other market ... or any real-world assets like real estate or art.” (Johan, 34:36)

  • Private stock tokenization is seen as a step to democratize access, leveling the playing field with VCs.

    “We think that in the future, tokenization kind of levels everything ... The customer could have the same rights as an important VC or someone with $100 million.” (Johan, 39:54)

• Robinhood Chain as an Ethereum L2

  • Chose Ethereum L2 over Solana for security, composability, and EVM-compatibility, enabling greater control and customization.

    “We decided to build an L2 on Ethereum ... we’re getting the security of the Ethereum network for free, and we could focus on features missing from the financial system.” (Johan, 21:03)

  • Plans to abstract crypto complexity away so users focus on the “what” rather than the “how”.

    “Our role as Robinhood is to take away all this complexity and aggregate the right transaction process for our customers.” (Johan, 23:34)

• Perpetuals (Perps)

  • Currently only available in the EU due to US regulatory restrictions, but Robinhood is ready to expand pending regulatory approvals.

    “We’d love perps to be ready to launch in the US. … But ... perps as it is are not allowed through the CFTC.” (Johan, 25:43)

• DeFi Investment (Lighter)

  • Invested in Lighter in the DeFi perp space for strategic “optionality” and potential future integration with Robinhood’s self-custody wallet.

    “For us, it’s also giving optionality if we want to do more in DeFi and perps. … It’s important as a business to have options.” (Johan, 27:26)

• International Expansion

  • Aggressively entering new markets via acquisitions (Bitstamp, WonderFi, Indonesian brokerages), focusing on crypto-friendly regions like Indonesia and Europe.

    “International expansion is one of our key pillars ... If you think about crypto in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is one of the populations that is the most excited about crypto...” (Johan, 54:51)

Regulatory & Market Structure

• Legal Scrutiny and Regulatory Navigation

  • Robinhood is confident navigating complex US and global regulation, working closely with authorities (CFTC, SEC, NYDFS).

    “If we launch a product, it means we felt confident in our ability to do so. … Robinhood knows how to work with regulators.” (Johan, 19:10)

• DeFi and Compliance

  • Envisions more core activity moving decentralized once compliance and technology mature.

    “I don’t think we have the technology set up yet. That’s why we’re building our chain ... Once it’s live ... you will see more and more systems starting to use it.” (Johan, 51:53)

User-Centric Philosophy and Crypto Usability

• Making Crypto Accessible

  • Robinhood aims to “hide” technical details so users can simply invest, reflecting on crypto’s roots being too focused on engineers.

    “Crypto was made by engineers for engineers, and we forgot 99% of the population… Focus less about the protocol and more about the actual use case.” (Johan, 49:47)

• Product-First Approach

  • Strong ethos of building what customers want rather than pushing new products for their own sake.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Robinhood’s Culture

• “Vlad is someone who is really pushing us all the time. ... I think that’s the mental model he has for himself, and that’s what we always inspire to do also for the company.” (Johan, 03:12)

On Tokenization and Democracy in Finance

• “Tokenization kind of levels everything ... The customer could have the same rights as an important VC or someone with $100 million.” (Johan, 39:54)
• “I think you could see a world where there’s just no more IPO. ... Instead of waiting to invest ... at a higher valuation, they can invest in the seed stage ... I just think it’s a more fair system.” (Johan, 42:23)

On the Super App Vision

• “You can start by investing into Bitcoin for the first time, or you can start using a prediction market, or just go straight to equities or opening a retirement account… It’s a pretty interesting platform introducing a lot of new investor to just like the investing world.” (Johan, 08:22)
• “We really spent a lot of time trying to understand what people didn’t like from other products, and we went with a pretty simple offering.” (Johan, 13:16)

On Crypto Market Cycles & Strategy

• “I always say I’m very bad at predicting bitcoin prices. If I was better, I’d probably not be working right now.” (Johan, 06:15)
• “What has been interesting is to see that, you know, there is a lot of support still… There’s still a lot of strong supports.” (Johan, 06:15)

On DeFi and Integration

• “The world where DeFi really develops, actually, you will see a lot of interactions we have on the platform that are currently centralized that could actually happen on DeFi... It’s more a question of when versus if.” (Johan, 51:53)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Robinhood’s Crypto Growth & User Evolution – 01:46, 03:12, 08:22
• Super App & Competition with Coinbase – 11:55, 13:16
• Prediction Markets Expansion – 14:30, 16:17
• Tokenized Stocks & Private Equity – 34:36, 39:54, 42:23
• Robinhood Chain Choices (Ethereum L2) – 21:03, 23:34
• Global Strategy & Expansion – 54:51
• DeFi Investment & Lighter – 27:26, 28:29
• Perps & Regulatory Challenges – 25:43
• Making Crypto User-Friendly – 49:47
• Vision for Tokenizing Real-World Assets – 44:07

Final Thoughts & Predictions

• On the Super App Vision:
  “You can see a world where the brokerage is using a lot more blockchain technology, ...And I think that's really the benefit we are getting from having one company that is specialized in all these different financial elements. But there is still a lot of work to be done.” (Johan, 56:51)

• Crypto x Prediction Markets x AI:
  “What I would be excited about is to see how prediction market and crypto are going to intertwine even more… And the second one I always think about is AI and crypto, the two big things. Excited to see if 2026 is going to be the year, finally.” (Johan, 58:13)

Takeaway

Robinhood’s “super app” is about breaking down barriers between asset classes, making sophisticated financial tools accessible to all, and surfacing the benefits of tokenization and DeFi for mainstream users: all with user experience at the core. Despite regulatory hurdles and technical complexity, Robinhood’s vision marks a profound shift in how people around the world could earn, spend, and invest—democratized, global, and blockchain-powered.