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Robinhood senior vice president Johann Kerbrat told the Consensus 2026 audience in Miami that overseas demand for US equities is climbing fast, with AI-related names drawing the heaviest cross-border interest. Access outside the United States remains structurally limited, he said, but tokenization, instant settlement, and around-the-clock trading are starting to close that gap — letting international investors assemble global portfolios instead of single-country bets.
Robinhood has already pushed tokenized stock products into Europe under a derivative model that tracks underlying assets, with private equity and other historically restricted asset classes next on the roadmap. Kerbrat framed the push as broader participation in markets that have traditionally been gated to accredited investors, including pre-IPO companies.
Why it matters
The quote that landed hardest was the structural one: "It is time for a lot of investors to really think about not just how to invest in one specific country, but also how to have a global portfolio." That framing — global allocation over country-specific exposure — is the same shift US investors have made over the last two decades, and the platform rails for international investors to follow are arriving in the same window. Kerbrat also flagged that "regulation in the U.S. has been less than friendly in the past," while noting recent policymaker engagement has improved — a softer regulatory tone matters as much as the tokenization stack when overseas capital is deciding where to land.
Market impact
The functional differentiators Kerbrat named — 24/7 trading, instant settlement, lending, collateralization — are the same features TradFi is racing to ship via tokenized rails. Robinhood's European tokenized-stock launch is the most visible proof point that the model works inside a regulated wrapper; expansion into private equity would extend tokenization to an asset class that has never had retail access at scale. The next leg is adoption, and Kerbrat was explicit that the bet is on new functionality, not a cheaper version of an existing brokerage.
Frequently asked questions
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What did Robinhood's Johann Kerbrat say at Consensus 2026?
Speaking at Consensus 2026 in Miami, Kerbrat said overseas demand for US equities is growing, with AI-related stocks drawing the heaviest cross-border interest. He framed tokenization, instant settlement, and 24/7 trading as the rails letting international investors move from country-specific strategies to global…
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How is Robinhood offering tokenized US stocks to overseas investors?
Robinhood has launched tokenized stock products in Europe under a derivative model that tracks underlying US assets. Kerbrat said the company plans to expand the model to additional asset classes, including private equity, broadening access to markets historically limited to accredited investors.
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Why does US regulation matter for overseas demand?
Kerbrat acknowledged that US regulation "has been less than friendly in the past," but said recent engagement with policymakers has improved. A softer regulatory tone matters as much as the tokenization stack when overseas capital is deciding where to land, because compliance friction is a primary gatekeeper for…
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What features does Kerbrat expect to differentiate tokenized assets?
Kerbrat named 24/7 trading, instant settlement, lending, and collateralization as the functional differentiators that will set tokenized assets apart from traditional brokerage products. He said adoption depends on shipping new functionality rather than replicating existing brokerage services at a lower cost.
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Could tokenized private equity expand beyond accredited investors?
Kerbrat said yes. He argued it is "really important" to give investors the choice to access private companies before they go public, framing the move as broader participation in markets historically restricted to accredited investors. Robinhood's roadmap points to private equity as the next asset class on top of the…
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