Nvidia becomes world’s largest public company as its stock token tops Robinhood Chain

Nvidia just claimed the throne. The AI chipmaker has surged past Apple and Microsoft to become the world’s largest public company by market capitalization, hitting approximately $5.1 trillion. And in a sign of how quickly traditional finance and crypto are merging, Nvidia’s tokenized stock is already the top asset on Robinhood’s freshly launched blockchain.

The NVIDIA Robinhood Token, trading under the familiar NVDA ticker, has become the flagship product on Robinhood Chain, the company’s new Ethereum Layer-2 network built on Arbitrum. It’s a small but telling development: the biggest company in the world, represented as an ERC-20 token, trading around the clock on a DeFi-compatible blockchain.

What Robinhood Chain actually is

Robinhood Chain went live around July 1 as what the company describes as an AI-native Layer-2 blockchain. In English: it’s a faster, cheaper network that sits on top of Ethereum’s security layer via Arbitrum, designed specifically for tokenized real-world assets.

The chain’s launch product is Stock Tokens. These are tokenized debt securities issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited that mirror the price performance of major equities. Think of them as digital wrappers around stocks like Nvidia, Apple, and Google that let holders trade and interact with DeFi protocols outside Robinhood’s traditional app.

The NVDA token currently carries a market cap of roughly $1.75 million, with daily trading volumes in the low six figures. One critical caveat: these Stock Tokens are not available to US persons. Robinhood is targeting international markets with this product, building on a foundation of classic Stock Tokens it had previously offered in the European Union. The new blockchain version represents a significant upgrade in interoperability and liquidity.

Why Nvidia at $5.1 trillion matters

Nvidia’s ascent to the top of the market cap leaderboard has been one of the most dramatic climbs in stock market history. The company’s GPUs have become the essential infrastructure powering the global AI boom, from training large language models to running inference workloads at massive scale.

The broader roster on Robinhood Chain includes tokens mirroring Apple, Google, and other major firms, but Nvidia is the clear draw.

The tokenized stock thesis gets real

Tokenized stocks have been a talked-about concept in crypto for years. Early attempts by companies like FTX and Binance largely fizzled due to regulatory pressure and, in FTX’s case, the minor issue of institutional fraud. Robinhood’s approach is notably different.

By issuing these tokens through a regulated entity in Jersey and explicitly excluding US customers, Robinhood is threading a regulatory needle. The tokens are structured as debt securities rather than direct equity ownership, which places them in a cleaner legal category in most jurisdictions. Investors don’t own shares of Nvidia. They own a token whose value is contractually tied to Nvidia’s stock price.

This distinction matters for DeFi integration. Because these are ERC-20 tokens on an Ethereum Layer-2, they can theoretically be used as collateral in lending protocols, traded on decentralized exchanges, or bundled into structured products. None of that is possible with a traditional brokerage account.

Traditional stock markets operate roughly six and a half hours per day, five days per week. Crypto markets never close. For international investors in different time zones, continuous trading removes a significant friction point.

What this means for investors

For traditional investors outside the US, the value proposition is more straightforward: fractional exposure to top-tier equities like Nvidia, available 24/7, without the overhead of a conventional brokerage relationship. The debt security structure means counterparty risk sits with Robinhood’s Jersey entity, which is a consideration worth understanding before diving in.

The competitive landscape is also shifting. Robinhood isn’t the only player eyeing tokenized real-world assets. Protocols like Ondo Finance and companies like BlackRock have been making moves in tokenized treasuries and other instruments. But Robinhood has something most crypto-native competitors lack: brand recognition with retail investors and a regulatory track record in multiple jurisdictions.

The risk factors are straightforward but real. Regulatory frameworks for tokenized securities remain a patchwork globally, and what’s permissible in Jersey today could face new restrictions tomorrow. The exclusion of US investors also limits the addressable market significantly, at least for now. And the debt security structure means token holders are creditors of Robinhood’s subsidiary, not shareholders of Nvidia, introducing a layer of counterparty risk that doesn’t exist when buying actual stock.

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