Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev urged U.S. lawmakers to break the regulatory logjam after saying crypto staking is still unavailable to Robinhood customers in four states. Robinhood positioned the situation as a real-world example of policy uncertainty pushing product momentum and innovation outside the U.S.
Tenev called for faster action on a federal market-structure bill, arguing it would create clearer, consistent rules and help restore access to a feature users keep asking for. His message was that a single national framework would reduce fragmentation and make it easier for U.S. customers to get the same opportunities available elsewhere.
Staking is one of the most requested features on @RobinhoodApp, but it’s still unavailable to customers in four U.S. states due to the current gridlock. Stock Tokens are available to our customers in the EU, but not in our home market.
It's time for the US to lead on crypto…
— Vlad Tenev (@vladtenev) January 15, 2026
What Tenev said, and what customers can’t access
Tenev said staking is “one of the most requested features on @RobinhoodApp,” but noted it remains inaccessible in California, Maryland, New Jersey and Wisconsin due to the current regulatory environment. He framed the limitation as driven by regulation, not by Robinhood choosing not to ship the product.
He also contrasted the U.S. situation with Robinhood’s ability to offer tokenized stocks to customers in Europe, using that comparison to underline how different jurisdictions can enable or block product rollout. In his view, the gap reflects regulatory fragmentation rather than a lack of demand or technical capability.
Tenev urged Congress to approve a comprehensive market-structure measure and said Robinhood would work with lawmakers to speed adoption. The company’s stance is that clarity would create a more level playing field for U.S. firms and consumers.
Why the timing matters
The comments landed as the Senate Banking Committee postponed a planned markup of a sweeping crypto market-structure proposal. That delay became part of the story, reinforcing the idea that Washington process risk is now a key constraint on product access.
The postponement followed Coinbase pulling its support for the current draft, citing provisions it said could effectively block tokenized equities, restrict parts of decentralized finance activity, and change how stablecoin rewards work. The split over the bill’s language highlights how one piece of legislation could reshape product design across staking, tokenization, and rewards.
For traders and crypto treasuries, the state-by-state patchwork creates practical friction: access differs depending on location and yield opportunities can be uneven. Robinhood’s framing is that uncertainty discourages capital deployment and slows down the buildout of U.S.-based infrastructure.
Looking ahead, the operational question is whether federal movement narrows these gaps or whether companies keep expanding abroad while limiting what they offer at home. Market participants will be tracking congressional progress closely because the outcome will directly influence whether staking and tokenization can scale in the U.S. or remain constrained by state variability and legal ambiguity.