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Investing.com-- Vlad Tenev, chief executive and co-founder of Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:HOOD), argued in a Washington Post op-ed that blockchain technology could revolutionize investing by enabling retail investors to access private markets, which are currently dominated by wealthy individuals and institutions.
In the op-ed, Tenev highlighted the growing disparity in investment opportunities, noting that high-value private companies like OpenAI with a $157 billion valuation, and SpaceX with a $350 billion valuation, remain inaccessible to everyday investors.
He pointed out that U.S. public markets have shrunk by half since 1996, while "accredited investor" rules—requiring a net worth of over $1 million or income exceeding $200,000—exclude roughly 80% of U.S. households from private-market investments.
Tenev proposed that blockchain technology, particularly through tokenization, could bridge this gap. Tokenization allows assets, including private company shares, to be divided into digital tokens, making them tradable on crypto platforms. This, he argued, would enable retail investors to invest in high-growth companies early in their life cycles, while also providing companies with access to a broader pool of capital.
"Tokenizing private-company stock would enable retail investors to invest in leading companies early in their life cycles, before they potentially go public at valuations of more than $100 billion," Tenev wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece. He added that blockchain’s global scale, open infrastructure, and low friction make it an ideal solution for democratizing access to private markets.
However, Tenev acknowledged regulatory hurdles in the U.S., where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to provide clear guidelines for tokenized securities.
He called for three key changes: revising accredited investor rules to focus on financial knowledge rather than wealth, creating a security token registration regime, and establishing clear guidelines for U.S.-based broker-dealers and exchanges to list tokenized assets.
While Tenev recognized the risks of early-stage investing, he emphasized that appropriate safeguards, such as enhanced disclosure requirements, could mitigate potential abuses.
He also warned that the U.S. risks falling behind jurisdictions like the European Union, Hong Kong, and Singapore, which have already implemented frameworks for security token offerings.