70 trillion in wealth transfers, and the financial portal is being rewritten for dialogue

By Payment 201

 

The next critical competition in the financial sector may no longer revolve around stocks, encrypted currencies or even payments, but around where the “intergenerational transfer” of wealth, which amounts to $9 trillion, will eventually flow。

In this programVlad Tenev(Robinwood Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

• Robinhod, how to strategicize this intergenerational transfer of wealth

• Why does he think 7x24 hour markets and asset monetization will be the inevitable trend

• AND WHY THE MAINSTREAM NARRATIVE OF THE Z GENERATION'S FINANCIAL IRRESPONSIBILITY IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH WHAT HE SAW ON THE PLATFORM

Takeaways:

1. Over the next 10-20 years, some $70-90 trillion in intergenerational wealth transfers are one of the most determined structural dividends of the financial sector. The core strategy of Robinhood is not to be a trading tool, but to be the default drop point for this wealth, essentially to compete for the next-generation asset entrance

2. Robinwood is upgrading from a “zero commission coupons” to a “full-assets account platform” to cover the storage, consumption, investment and inheritance of funds through products such as banks (checking/savings), credit, retirement accounts, trusts, trust accounts, and so on, to achieve full occupation of the account layer

3. Prior to the transfer of wealth, the key strategy of Robinwood was “bilateral penetration”: serving young users on the one hand and attracting older groups of existing assets through product capacity on the other, thus naturally completing asset migration at the intergenerational interface

4. 7 x 24 hours of transactions and asset monetization are considered to be a definite evolution. The essence of this is not to increase transaction time, but to restructure the market infrastructure so that all assets (especially private equity) are continuously liquid and globally accessible

5. The real value of stock monetization lies not in “link-to-chain trading of stocks”, but in connecting CeFi and DeFi to enable equities to participate in collateral, borrowing, grouping, etc. financial activities, and eventually extend to pravate equity

6. Robinwood is constructing a two-wheel drive model for CeFi distribution + DeFi infrastructure: a front-end conglomerate of users via App and Wallet, and a back-end through Robinood Chain carrying assets and protocols that create an integrated ecosystem similar to the Exchange + Public Chain

7. Predicting markets are redefined as “information infrastructure”, the core value of which is to provide a probabilistic, market-based “truth-pricing mechanism”, which to some extent replaces the information distribution function of traditional media rather than merely trading or gambling tools

8. THE MAINSTREAM NARRATIVE ON “RECREATIONAL FINANCE” IS BIASED. ACTUAL DATA SHOW THAT A LARGE NUMBER OF USER ASSETS HAVE ENTERED LONG-TERM CONFIGURATION PRODUCTS SUCH AS ETF, RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS, AND THAT USER BEHAVIOUR PRESENTS A “LONG-TERM INVESTMENT-BASED + STRATEGIC TRADE-SIDE” STRUCTURE RATHER THAN FULL-SCALE SPECULATION

9. The core of the next phase of competition is not just super apps, but "smart asset management portals": evolution into a personal, family office-like, system-level financial service model through AI entry to manage transactions, savings, configurations, etc

 

Moderator:

THE Z GENERATION, ACTUALLY, IS THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE GENERATION OF RETIREMENT SAVINGS AND THE MOST LONG-TERM INVESTMENT AWARENESS WE HAVE EVER SEEN。

Moderator:
Wait, really

Vlad:
YEAH, IT'S TRUE. THEY ARE AT AN EARLIER AGE THAN ANY PREVIOUS GENERATION. I'VE SEEN ONE DATA BEFORE, WHEN THE AVERAGE AGE OF Z'S FIRST RETIREMENT ACCOUNT WAS 19. IT'S PROBABLY A LITTLE UP NOW, BUT IT'S PROBABLY EARLY 20S. BY CONTRAST, THE OTHER GENERATIONS STARTED AROUND THE AGE OF 25。

Moderator:
Friends of Bankless, we're here today again with the founder and CEO Vlad Tenev. Vlad, welcome back。

Vlad:
Nice to be here again, thanks。

Moderator:
We've got 60 minutes of "Quick Answer." A whole hour of high-strength questions. Ready

Vlad:
Oh, my God, I'm in the ring. Okay, I'm ready。

Moderator:
WELL, THEN WE GO STRAIGHT TO THE POINT, STARTING WITH GREAT WEALTH TRANSFER. IN THE NEXT FEW DECADES, THE UNITED STATES WILL EXPERIENCE A MASSIVE INTERGENERATIONAL MOVEMENT OF WEALTH: THE WEALTH OF THE BABY BOOM GENERATION AND THE SILENT GENERATION, WHICH WILL GRADUALLY PASS ON TO THE X GENERATION, THE MILLENNIUM GENERATION AND THE Z GENERATION. IN THE UNITED STATES ALONE, IN THE NEXT 20 YEARS OR SO, 70 TRILLION TO 90 TRILLION DOLLARS WILL BE TRANSFERRED. THIS COULD BE THE LARGEST WEALTH TRANSFER IN HISTORY。

How important is this trend to Robinwood's strategy? How often do you think about this 70-90 trillion-dollar opportunity? Or are there more central strategies driving you

Vlad:
We do attach great importance to this trend. A growing number of companies are now beginning to talk about “great wealth transfers”, but earlier this was actually just a topic for discussion in smaller circles, such as economists。

If we want to go back to the time when it became a mainstream financial technology issue, I think we could go back to last year -- when we launched Robinhod Banking at Gold。

From the highest point of view, our positioning for Robinwood is that we want to serve all customers — whether individuals, businesses or institutional clients — whether in the United States itself or internationally. Robinwood should be a place where all your money and assets can be best managed。

At the same time, we want the money going in and out of Robinhod to be simple enough: it's easy to save, it's easy to collect. From an internal point of view, however, each outflow of funds would be considered a “system gap” or an “opportunity for improvement”。

In this round of intergenerational wealth transfers, when the previous generation begins to inherit and to pass on wealth to the younger generation, we want to serve not only these older clients, but also through a complete product system, to allow users “to put money on other platforms as a disadvantage”。

This is actually profoundly affecting our entire product route。

For example:
We have introduced credit and banking in order to reach those assets that were originally in demand/saving accounts, as well as the daily consumption streams of users。
and this year, for example, we launched the trust accounts, the trust accounts and the continuous expansion of the assets on the platform。

These products, on the one hand, enable us to serve the youngest groups of users (who have just received assets) and, on the other hand, reach the mature group of users with the largest current assets。

So we are not “waiting” users to inherit wealth, but to serve parents and grandparents at the same time, making them aware that it is a disadvantage to continue using other financial platforms。

I think that would give us a very advantageous position in the next 8 to 10 years when wealth transfers really peak。

Moderator:
THEN WE'LL PULL THE TIME TO 8 TO 10 YEARS LATER. THERE HAVE INDEED BEEN MANY CHANGES IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR OVER THE PAST 15 YEARS, BUT TO SOME EXTENT THEY DO NOT SEEM TO HAVE BEEN SO. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM IN 2040? WHICH WILL CHANGE AND WHICH WON'T? COULD IT BE A 7X24 HOUR MARKET? WHAT ROLE WOULD AI PLAY

Vlad:
I think there's gonna be a 24-hour, year-round market。

In fact, we've been pushing the 24-hour deal on the stock market since 2022, and now you've seen the whole industry follow up, and many exchanges are planning to have all-weather transactions, including weekends。

It's almost technically available, but there's some engineering work that needs to be done, but I think this change will have happened long before 2040。

another key trend is asset monetization。

Last year we had a launch in France, with a large number of dollarized versions of United States shares, which have now been extended to thousands of stocks. We've also made a donation of shares in OpenAI and SpaceX。

It is still in its early stages, but I expect that by the end of this year stock tokens will begin to have a clear advantage in some respects, even better than the stock exchange experience in traditional voucher accounts。

If we go further and solve the problem of “private equity 7x24 hours liquidity”, it is actually the hardest part of the problem. Once this is solved, you can make almost all-weather transactions。

Moderator:
With regard to stock coins, you've already got thousands online in Europe and you've launched your own Layer 2 (Robinwood Chain), but American users are not yet able to use the product. How far are you from bringing stock coins into the United States market as the SEC regulatory attitude changes? Are you doing a new system like the New York Stock Exchange, or is it completely different

Vlad:
It's actually in two parts。

Some of these are CeFi (centralized finance): for example, trading in these shares in Bitstamp or other centralized exchanges。
The other part is DeFi: Users can exchange, borrow, etc. in non-host wallets. We're promoting the use of these stock coins on Robinwood Chain and other chains。

So we're doing two paths at the same time。

We do not interpret it as “the targeting of a traditional exchange”. It is essentially a new system. A closer analogy, actually, is the current encrypted ecology: you can take mortgages, trades, combination strategies -- but most of these operations now take place in currencies without real bottom assets。

what would happen if those tokens were tied to real world assets? it'll be similar, but it'll be better, because you're dealing with assets of real basic value, not with meme coin。

As for the United States market, the core is not just regulation, but also a more realistic issue: The United States already has a very mature market structure。

It is not 24/7, but it is close to 24/5 and costs are declining. In a sense, the U.S. has "90% approaching final state."。

So the question is, what is the "additional value" of tokenization? Can users really understand it

Thus, we judge that markets outside Europe and the United States will run ahead and then some successful models will gradually be introduced into the United States。

Moderator:
You just mentioned going to DeFi. Now, like Coinbase, Kraken, these exchanges are expanding what they call “DeFi Mullet” (the front end is compliance finance, the back end is DeFi). For example, access to loan agreements like Morpho via CeFi or DeFi interface。

Even like BlackRock is moving into DeFi, and their BuIDL funds are on line and are also deployed on Uniswap。

So what's your overall strategy for DeFi on Robinwood? On the one hand, it resembles the “western world”, open, unlicensed, innovative, but also risky; on the other hand, it is indeed the crypto that can bring the greatest differentiation to the financial system。

What do you think of this direction

Vlad:
our strategy is the "full stack."。

To function, the whole ecology requires a large number of users first. So through Robinhod App and, increasingly, Robinhod Wallet, what we're doing is "distribution."。

On the other side, we're building infrastructure -- CeFi and DeFi。

On the DeFi side, we launched Robinhood Chain, and the testing network is currently working very well, with the participation of developers and the ecological growth of applications exceeding our expectations。

At first, I think, the most conservative thing is that this chain can at least be used to carry our own products, monetize these assets and provide them to users. Even then, it would be a very big chain。

but what we see now is that developers are really willing to access, build products on them and fast. so the question becomes, "how do we filter?"。

There will be tens of thousands of products in the chain in the future, which are very similar on the surface, but the risk structure and the bottom mechanisms vary considerably. We need to make sure that the best products can be channelled to our CeFi interface to make them more user-friendly。

 

Moderator:
let's talk about predating markets. this area has recently grown very rapidly, even beyond our expectations。

Proponents argue that this is the “truth machine” of the “information market”; but there is also opposition, saying that it is essentially gambling and may even lead to problems of manipulation and addiction。

What do you think? Is that good or bad

Vlad:
I think it's good。

Many overlooked the point that the volume of market transactions projected was much smaller than the stock or option market. But its more important value is that it is an “information mechanism”。

More and more Americans are beginning to judge what is real and what is more likely to happen by predicting markets. In the past, people relied on the media, but the media's business model has moved away from “fast transmission of real information” and more towards “extended user stay and increased advertising”。

This leaves a gap — if I wanted to know “what the truth is”, where should I go

The forecast market fills this gap well. I think it will grow and permeate more scenes。

Moderator:
So, is Robinhod on the forecast market, superseding content and socialization? Like Stocktwits, X, which combines transactions, ideas, discussions。

Vlad:
Yeah, that's what we're doing。

We've released the Robinhod Social on Hood Summit, and it'll be online soon. The market is expected to be an important part of this, and users can see how others trade and how to comment on these events。

I BELIEVE IN USER-GENERATED CONTENT (UGC). YOU CANNOT CAPTURE ALL INFORMATION MANUALLY, BUT IF MILLIONS OF USERS PARTICIPATE IN THE MARKET, THEY WILL NATURALLY “SHOW OUT” THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION。

Of course, we also do the content layer, which is Sherwood Media — our media business, which produces high-quality content every day and increasingly combines predictive markets。

 

Moderator:
there is now a trend called recreation finance. young people seem to invest in entertainment, such as meme coin, forecasting markets, etc。

Do you think this is the trend? Should the platform encourage

Vlad:
I actually have the opposite view。

I don't think “recreation” is leading financial activity. What really happened was that there was no discussion of the part that was not entertaining。

For example:
NOBODY'S GOING TO TALK ABOUT HOW FAST RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS ARE GROWING ON X
NO ONE'S GONNA SAY HOW ROBUST THE ETF IS

So what you're seeing is just the "more attractive eyeball" part, creating the illusion that the whole financial sector is becoming speculative entertainment。

FROM THE DATA, HOWEVER, THE SITUATION IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. 40% OF OUR ASSETS ON THE PLATFORM ARE ALREADY IN PASSIVE PRODUCTS (ETF, CASH, RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS), AND THIS PROPORTION IS RISING。

Even the most active traders usually have multiple accounts: one for transactions and one for long-term investments。

So the reality is that the same person is doing both “transaction” and “long-term configuration”。

Moderator:
THIS IS EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF THE MAINSTREAM NARRATIVE. EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT Z GENERATION GAMBLING, NO LONG-TERM PLANNING。

Vlad:
NOT AT ALL. THE Z GENERATION IS THE MOST LONG-TERM INVESTMENT AWARENESS WE HAVE EVER SEEN. THEY START INVESTING EARLIER AND MORE SYSTEMATICALLY。

Moreover, it is not right that many people classify “active transactions” as gambling. Some people are very systematic, strategy-driven traders who are looking for the wrong price, modeling and strategy, which is completely different from emotional bets。

Moderator:
Then why? Because tools are easier to use

Vlad:
yeah, access is key。

It had been difficult to open a retirement account in the past and to meet consultants and fill out forms would be done in a few steps。

And there are incentives, like we're offering Gold users 3% matching retirement accounts。

there is also a tendency for more and more people to be freelanced, with no tradition of 401k, so they need to manage their own retirement savings。

The combination of these factors has contributed to this change。

Moderator:
Let's talk super app. Now, X is making payments, Coinbase goes online, and everybody's doing "financial superappliance."。

But the question is: is it really possible that the needs of different users are very different

Vlad:
I think so, but definitions need to be more flexible。

For example, we already have more than one
Robinwood Master App
Robinhod Banking
Robinwood Wallet

In the future, we will be more personalized, while retaining these “sub-applications”。

Another important direction is: angent. Future users may operate financial services through AI, and we need to make sure that the world wins。

Moderator:
But you haven't made P2P payments like Venmo, Cash App。

Vlad:
We did it, but it didn't work。

THE REASON IS THAT OUR USERS ARE NOT THE KIND OF “CASH-FLOW-RESTRICTED” USERS, THEY PREFER CREDIT CARDS AND INVESTMENT USERS, AND THEY ARE LESS IN DEMAND FOR THESE FUNCTIONS. AND THE P2P IS VERY MATURE, AND WE WON'T GET INVOLVED UNLESS WE DO SOMETHING SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER。

Moderator:
What about stabilization coins

Vlad:
There are two scenarios:
1) deposit (store of value)
2) payment route (rail)

THE FIRST QUESTION IS: IT'S COMPETING WITH FDIC INSURANCE. U.S. USERS ATTACH GREAT IMPORTANCE TO THE SECURITY OF FUNDS, AND THE FACT THAT IN 2023 THERE WAS AN ANCHOR IN THE CURRENCY OF STABILITY IS A HUGE BLOW TO TRUST。

The second problem is that there is no consumer scenario. You don't invite friends to dinner in stabilizers, and you don't pay in Amazon。

HOWEVER, IT ALREADY HAS VALUE IN B2B, LARGE PAYMENTS, AND WEEKEND SETTLEMENT。

So we will continue to support, for example, USDG, but consumer-level applications take time。

Moderator:
So let's keep talking about payments, money stabilization and the banking system. There has been a recent, more “marker” event: Kraken has obtained the so-called “skinny master account” (a streamlined version of the Federal Reserve account) that allows direct access to FedWire for liquidation。

From your point of view, is it attractive to Robinwood? Or have you achieved similar capabilities through cooperative banks? Is this really a paradigm shift

Vlad:
I don't really think so。

Users can make wire transfers in Robinwood today. I didn't study the details of the licence in particular, but it sounded more like a way to cut costs。

But we will not apply for bank licences in order to have cheaper access to the liquidation system。

INDEED, BANK PLATES HAVE ITS ADVANTAGES. IN 2019, WE ACTUALLY TRIED TO APPLY FOR A NATIONAL BANK LICENSE FOR AN OCC, BUT WE WITHDREW IT。

The reason is that we found that the “banking model” has become very mature。
API, service capacity is growing rapidly, and community banks are actively pursuing their clients。

Now we're working with banks like Castal, and they're competing with big banks, and we can focus on what we're best at, without the complex burden of carrying a bank license。

So for the time being, this pattern of cooperation is the best for us. The future, of course, cannot rule out change altogether。

Moderator:
and when it comes to the relationship between banks and crypto, one of the biggest friction points now is regulation。

For example, Clarity Act, one of the key points that is now stuck is where the revenue of the stabilizer belongs。

Banks want restrictions, and crypto industries (e.g. Coinbase) want to give the proceeds to users。

What do you think of that

Vlad:
I think the debate is a little off track。

Because stabilizing money gains is not really at the heart of Clarity Act. Clarity Act was originally concerned with market structure, asset classification (securities vs commodities) and tokenization。

But now, because the previous GENIUS Act was too fast for many stakeholders to respond, it is now trying to “remediate” in this bill。

Personally, I think the best path is to put aside the problem of the currency of stability and give priority to the more central issues of DeFi and market structure。

Otherwise, we might be held back by a stabilization currency dispute and miss the entire legislative window。

Moderator:
So if Clarity Act goes through successfully, what exactly does that have to do with you

Vlad:
The greatest value is “equitableness”。

now any of our last tokens have to devote a lot of effort to the law: is it securities? is it a risk? with a clear set of rules, these costs would be significantly reduced。

the second is tokenization。
Once the rules are clear, traditional assets can be moved to the chain on a large scale。

There is also a crucial point: once the law is written, there will be no backsliding with the change of custody. This is very important for industry。

Moderator:
If there are two scenarios:
1) Bill passed
Bill not passed

Does it affect your strategy

Vlad:
It won't affect our commitment to Robinwood Chain。

because the chain itself is a global product, it's permissionless。

The real impact is: which products are available in the United States。

If United States regulation is not clear, we tend to favour international markets (e.g. Europe). If that is clear, we will increase American input。

You've actually seen us doing this “balance”: internationalizing while preparing for the American market。

Moderator:
I was at your press conference in France, where almost all the products were written "European users only," and as an American I started to envy Europe。

But now things are changing, like the CFTC is pushing for permanent contracts to land in the United States. Are you ready

Vlad:
Ready and can be very fast. We've got futures, we've got permanent contracts in Europe, delivered through Bitstamp. From a technical and product point of view, we've been full stock, and we can go online as soon as the regulations are clear。

Moderator:
Let's talk about the pain that many people have: ordinary investors don't get high-quality private equity such as Stripe, SpaceX, Anthropic. Is this a structural problem? Is it possible to change

Vlad:
This is the direction to which we attach great importance。

Like our Robinwood Ventures:
I've voted for Stripe, Databricks, Ramp, Revolut, Airwallex, etc。

Now what we're doing is "late project + fund structure," but in the future, we're going to go even earlier。

In the long term, I think the end is:
BULK HOUSEHOLDS CAN PARTICIPATE IN SEED WHEELS, ROUND A FINANCING。

of course, it takes time, but tokenization is also a critical path。

Moderator:
WE HAVE JUST TALKED ABOUT THE YOUNGER GENERATION, THE TRANSFER OF WEALTH. I WOULD LIKE TO ADD A TRUE POINT OF PAIN FOR MANY MILLENNIUM AND Z GENERATIONS: WE HAVE NO ACCESS TO MANY QUALITY GROWTH ASSETS。

For example, Stripe, SpaceX, Anthropic - these companies were unable to participate when there was the most room for growth. You have launched Robinhod Ventures, which does solve this problem to some extent, but it remains a structural problem as a whole。

is it possible to change? what happens to the diaspora to actually participate in these investments

Vlad:
I think Robinwood Ventures is an important first step。

Through this fund, we have been involved in a number of projects, such as Stripe (currently contracted but not yet closed), Databricks (we have participated in the last two rounds), Boom (company of supersonic aircraft), Mercury, Revolut, Ramp, Airwallex and Aura (the ring that I am wearing is their product)。

THESE INVESTMENTS ARE ACTUALLY MADE THROUGH THE FUNDS RAISED BY IPO, AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO AND WILL HAVE MORE FUNDS IN THE FUTURE。

The fund is currently at an advanced stage (pre-IPO), but in the future it will gradually move to a more early stage — higher risks, but also greater potential returns。

You can understand the evolution of our path:

STEP 1: TO INVOLVE THE DIASPORA IN THE IPO
Step 2: Indirect involvement of the diaspora through the Fund
Step III: In the future, direct involvement of the diaspora in earlier financing

IN THE LONG RUN, I THINK THE END IS: IF YOU'RE A START-UP COMPANY, YOU'RE ON A SEED WHEEL OR AN A ROUND, THE OCCUPANT BECOMES AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF FINANCE。

Of course, that is not yet the point, but we are moving in that direction。

and you see what we do in europe -- tokenization. i think that might be the final form, but much more needs to be done to achieve it。

In the transition phase, the Fund ' s structure may be the most realistic。

Moderator:
Vlad, this is a good conversation. Robinwood has seized two big opportunities in the past:

One is the zero commission deal, which changes the entire voucher business
the other one is crypto, and you've been back and forth since the early days of the industry

Your core competencies seem to have been:
Take the trend + do the extreme product experience + take the next generation of users

so what's the third chance? where are the biggest growth points in the future? internationalize? or these combinations

Vlad:
Actually, a lot of directions we've been doing。

For example:
Socialization - significant changes in user experience
Prognosis of markets - already growing fast
AI-WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED

We've introduced AI in the product, for example, Cortex, but it's only a very early stage。

the really interesting question is: will there be an agent in the future to help you manage your entire financial life

From transactions to savings to long-term asset allocation - all to AI, similar to a " personal office"。

I think it's gonna be a very big direction。

Overall, the scope for innovation in the future is huge, and we will continue to explore and truly land those capabilities through products。

Moderator:
That's it. Vlad, thank you for sharing today. Your exploration in the crypto field has been of great interest to us. Finally, these elements are not investment proposals. The encryption market is risky and investments need to be prudent. But we are indeed moving towards a new frontier world, and it is good to see you on that path with us. Thank you。