Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev is pressing U.S. policymakers to update securities rules to allow tokenized stocks to trade domestically, calling the lack of U.S. Stock Tokens a major missing piece in the company’s broader tokenization strategy. His appeal came days after the SEC (U.S. securities regulator) canceled a planned discussion of its proposed innovation exemption, a form of regulatory relief that could let blockchain-based venues offer tokenized equities outside current market-structure rules. The agency had already shelved that exemption in May and again on Aug. 13 after the White House warned it could complicate Digital Asset Market Clarity Act talks and SIFMA said such a change should go through formal rulemaking. Robinhood currently has a small foothold in the market it wants opened: its Stock Tokens represent $32.2 million across 191 assets, equal to 1.34% of the $2.4 billion tokenized equity market, according to RWA.xyz. Tenev argued that onchain settlement (blockchain-based trade completion) could reduce stress seen in events like the January 2021 GameStop episode, when two-day settlement contributed to collateral demands that forced Robinhood to restrict buying. He also said blockchain rails enable always-on trading, fractional ownership and self-custody (holding assets directly), allowing tokenized positions to move between platforms faster than through ACAT rails and to be used in DeFi (blockchain-based financial services).