Oct 13, 2026 · 20 min

Robinhood pushes blockchain markets toward round-the-clock finance

Robinhood & Lighter: Why Wall Street Is Moving Onchain

The panel shows how perpetuals, tokenized assets, and 24/7 trading could reshape market access while regulation remains unresolved.

3 key takeaways

1Blockchain’s continuous trading and near-instant settlement are drawing traditional finance closer to on-chain markets.
2Perpetual futures could extend leverage and short exposure to commodities and pre-IPO assets without physical settlement.
3Robinhood Chain’s early launch suggests removing technical barriers may accelerate adoption of tokenized financial products.

Don't miss

Johann Kerbrat explains how Robinhood Chain’s removal of technical barriers is encouraging engagement with composable stock tokens and on-chain products.

The brief

At a Digital Asset Summit Asia panel in Singapore, Felix Jauvin brings Robinhood’s Johann Kerbrat and Lighter’s Vladimir Novakovski together to examine on-chain finance’s move toward the mainstream.

The panel argues that 24/7, near-instant trading is pulling traditional finance toward blockchain, while liquidity must combine familiar order books with automated market-maker mechanisms.

Perpetual futures emerge as the clearest bridge: they can offer leverage, long and short exposure, and cross-margining for commodities or pre-IPO assets without physical delivery.

The unresolved question is regulation, especially in the United States, where Robinhood wants a consistent federal framework and Lighter is engaging with the CFTC.

Johann Kerbrat’s early lessons from Robinhood Chain provide the episode’s standout moment: reducing technical friction can encourage users to explore composable stock tokens and on-chain products.

The closing argument is less about replacing traditional platforms than merging them with compliant blockchain infrastructure, stablecoins, lending, and decentralized protocols.

What was said on this episode

22 statements · 20 positive · 1 negative · 1 mixed

Vladimir Novakovskion DeFiPositive1:09
Finance will increasingly operate on blockchain infrastructure.
“the future of finance is going to be on-chain”
Listen at 1:09
Vladimir Novakovskion DeFiPositive2:39
On-chain finance now matches traditional finance latency while retaining security and verifiability.
“on-chain finance can now happen at the low latency that traditional finance expects while still maintaining the security and verifiability”
Listen at 2:39
Vladimir Novakovskion U.S. digital-asset regulationPositive2:51
U.S. digital-asset regulation has substantially adapted.
“the regulatory climate, especially in the US with CFTC and SEC and others has really adapted a lot”
Listen at 2:51
Johann Kerbraton Robinhood stock tokensPositive3:29
Over 70% of Robinhood stock-token volume occurs outside exchange hours.
“more than 70% of the volume is then”
Listen at 3:29
Vladimir Novakovskion automated market makersPositive4:53
AMMs can help provide liquidity in 24/7 markets.
“the AMM, is actually useful in this context”
Listen at 4:53
Johann Kerbraton Robinhood extended-hours tradingPositive6:18
Extended-hours trading will let retail investors adjust strategies over weekends.
“now they are going to be able to do that and change their strategy over the weekend”
Listen at 6:18
Johann Kerbraton Crypto Perpetual FuturesPositive7:29
Perpetuals provide accessible long-short exposure, leverage, and cross-margining.
“People want to be able to easily go long or short. They want to be able to use the leverage and to be able to do cross margin between the different elements in their portfolio.”
Listen at 7:29
Johann Kerbraton Robinhood Wallet and Lighter productPositive7:57
Robinhood’s Lighter Wallet product offers customers a strong user experience.
“the product that we've launched with LIDAR and the Robium Wallet really gives a good UI and UX experience for the customers”
Listen at 7:57
Vladimir Novakovskion Crypto Perpetual FuturesPositive9:05
Perpetual futures are now becoming broadly appropriate for many markets.
“the perpetual is like an idea whose time has finally come”
Listen at 9:05
Vladimir Novakovskion dated futures for compute marketsMixed9:22
Dated futures may be preferable for compute markets with specific hedging timelines.
“for some markets, like compute, you might actually want dated futures”
Listen at 9:22
Johann Kerbraton Crypto Perpetual FuturesPositive12:13
Perpetuals improve capital efficiency by avoiding physical asset transfer and settlement.
“it makes the capital a lot more efficient and the type of strategies that you can use a lot more efficient”
Listen at 12:13
Johann Kerbraton Robinhood stock tokensPositive12:58
Stock tokens can serve as collateral for opening perpetual positions.
“they're able to use it as collateral on LIDAR, for example, and open a perp position”
Listen at 12:58
Johann Kerbraton Robinhood U.S. perpetualsNegative14:31
Robinhood wants U.S. perpetuals to avoid inferior clearing and settlement constraints.
“we want to make sure that we are not creating a worse version of purps with a clearinghouse that is limited”
Listen at 14:31
Vladimir Novakovskion Lighter U.S. regulatory processPositive15:03
Lighter is well advanced in pursuing U.S. on-chain product approval.
“we're pretty far along on that process”
Listen at 15:03
Vladimir Novakovskion Lighter U.S. product rolloutPositive15:42
Lighter expects many on-chain products to reach U.S. customers.
“we're very optimistic about, you know, the rollout of a lot of these products to US customers”
Listen at 15:42
Johann Kerbraton traditional and on-chain financial platformsPositive16:21
Traditional and on-chain financial platforms will increasingly converge.
“the two platforms are going to merge more and more, and the convergence is going to happen”
Listen at 16:21
Johann Kerbraton smart wallets in mainstream financial appsPositive16:45
Mainstream apps will automate on-chain activity through integrated smart wallets.
“you will be able to basically trade on chain or utilize the chain, but it's going to be done automatically for you using a smart wallet within the main app”
Listen at 16:45
Vladimir Novakovskion blockchain applicationsPositive17:09
Blockchain applications can combine KYC compliance with decentralization.
“you can have both”
Listen at 17:09
Vladimir Novakovskion Ethereum-based financial infrastructurePositive17:51
Shared Ethereum infrastructure enables rapid cross-jurisdiction capital rebalancing.
“market participants who are able to participate in more than one jurisdiction can quickly, like, rebalance their capital”
Listen at 17:51
Johann Kerbraton on-chain productsPositive18:47
Reducing technical complexity increases user enthusiasm for on-chain products.
“when you remove the barrier to entry when you remove the complexity people are actually really enthusiastic about getting on chain and interfacing with the chain”
Listen at 18:47
Johann Kerbraton Robinhood stock tokensPositive18:55
Robinhood’s stock tokens are composable and attracting development activity.
“we are seeing a lot of development on our stock tokens products we've made them in a way that are composable”
Listen at 18:55
Johann Kerbraton Robinhood on-chain productsPositive19:29
Robinhood expects substantial growth when its products expand into currently blocked markets.
“when we can bring it also within the US or in other markets that are blocked currently, we'll really see a lot of growth there”
Listen at 19:29

Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.