CANNES — Fifteen years after flipping burgers at a McDonald‘s and instructing himself to code at evening in a cramped house close to the French Riviera, Robinhood crypto chief Johann Kerbrat is again.
The final time he lived round Cannes, he was 21 — with no connections, no funding, and no formal enterprise coaching. However he had a knack for programming and a drive to resolve real-world issues.
Kerbrat, who’s now senior vice chairman and crypto GM at Robinhood, stop his job simply earlier than beginning college in close by Good, and shortly after launched his first fintech startup: a no-code funds firm constructed from scratch to assist small retailers create e-commerce websites with out hiring builders.
“It was in my little studio — most likely smaller than your lavatory,” he stated. “Initially, we did not have any workers, nevertheless it was proper in the beginning of e-commerce. Again then, in the event you have been a service provider you did not actually have an choice, you needed to rent an company and spend tens of 1000’s of euros. The concept was to let folks construct their very own factor with none technical data — sort of what Shopify is doing now.”
However the timing was proper. The early 2010s introduced a growth in on-line commerce, and Kerbrat’s software gave small retailers an opportunity to compete. It additionally opened his eyes to how fragile and costly the worldwide monetary system actually was.
A classmate from Greece advised him how his household’s financial institution accounts had been frozen in the course of the eurozone disaster. Across the similar time, retailers utilizing his platform have been scuffling with excessive charges, chargebacks, and fraud. After which the Bitcoin white paper landed.
“I used to be like, ‘Okay, that is an answer for every part,’ ” he stated
Now, from Château de la Croix des Gardes, a Belle Époque mansion perched alongside the identical shoreline the place he as soon as lived and labored the evening shift in quick meals, he is a part of essentially the most formidable crypto product suite in Robinhood’s historical past.
On Monday the corporate introduced an expanded providing of tokenized U.S. shares and ETFs throughout Europe, crypto staking within the U.S., perpetual futures for eligible EU merchants, and a brand new Layer 2 blockchain optimized for real-world asset settlement and 24/7 buying and selling.
“It is completely surreal,” stated Kerbrat, seated inside the long-lasting Carlton Resort — a five-star landmark that after felt impossibly out of attain. “Once I was youthful, I used to stroll previous this place — and I may have by no means, by no means stayed right here.”
The announcement coincides with the Ethereum Group Convention, hosted in Cannes for the first time, and Robinhood’s newest regulatory approvals throughout Europe.
Robinhood’s newest transfer is its most critical push but to mix conventional finance with blockchain-based infrastructure.
Shares hit a report excessive following the announcement and are up over 100% this 12 months.
Kerbrat stated the aim is not to dazzle with options. It is to make crypto disappear into the background. He likened it to plumbing.
“You do not take into consideration how water will get to your faucet,” he stated. “You simply count on it to be there.”
However there’s nonetheless plumbing to construct out.
On the coronary heart of Monday’s launch are tokenized U.S. shares and ETFs, now accessible to clients in 30 EU and European Financial Space international locations. The tokens — constructed first on Arbitrum — provide 24/5 entry, dividend assist, and nil fee or unfold from Robinhood. Ultimately, they’re going to migrate to a customized Layer 2 blockchain constructed to assist tokenized property, seamless bridging, and self-custody.
Within the U.S., Robinhood is debuting staking for Ethereum and Solana, permitting customers to earn rewards by supporting community operations. In Europe, crypto perpetual futures will provide eligible customers as much as 3x leverage, routed by way of Bitstamp. Different upgrades embrace good alternate routing, tax lot administration, and superior charting instruments — all designed to make crypto really feel as seamless and intuitive as buying and selling shares.
“Once we discuss mass adoption,” Kerbrat stated, “That is what it seems like. A product folks use — without having to know the way it works.”
For Kerbrat, who spent his adolescence between Cannes and Good, the return is not simply symbolic. It is a measure of how far he is come — and the way a lot nonetheless feels the identical.
His father labored in IT. His mom stayed residence with him and his sister. Sooner or later, his dad introduced residence a clunky previous Apple pc with a black-and-white display and that was the spark. By 7, he was experimenting. By 11, he was programming recurrently. And by 17, he was already attempting to repair the damaged elements of the web economic system he noticed round him.
His mother and father, now dwelling additional inland, drove in simply in time to observe the launch. They bear in mind the early days, he stated — the tiny house, the primary strains of code, the countless conversations with retailers who did not fairly imagine his pitch — that anybody may construct an e-commerce website with out figuring out tips on how to code.
“We selected Cannes due to licensing, and since the convention was right here,” he stated. “However I am not going to fake it would not really feel good.”
He paused, letting the second settle.
“I by no means thought I would be again right here like this.”
