Fifteen years ago, in a tiny apartment near the French Riviera, 21-year-old Johann Kerbrat worked daytime shifts at McDonald's while teaching himself to code at night.
Today, as Robinhood’s Senior Vice President and Head of Crypto, he returns to the same region with the company’s most ambitious suite of crypto products.
The Cannes Chronicles
"My workspace back then was probably smaller than your bathroom," Kerbrat recalls. Before enrolling at the University of Nice, he quit his job to launch his first fintech startup—a no-code payment platform empowering small merchants to build e-commerce sites without developers.
"It was the dawn of online commerce. Back then, businesses either spent tens of thousands on agencies or couldn’t go digital. Our solution let anyone create a store without technical skills—like a primitive Shopify."
The timing was perfect. In the early 2010s, e-commerce boomed, and Kerbrat’s tool leveled the playing field for small businesses. It also exposed him to the fragility and high costs of traditional banking systems.
The Bitcoin Epiphany
A conversation with a Greek classmate became a turning point. The classmate described how his family’s bank accounts were frozen during the Eurozone crisis, paralyzing their lives. Meanwhile, merchants on Kerbrat’s platform complained about exorbitant fees, convoluted refunds, and uncontrollable credit-card fraud.
"Then I read the Bitcoin whitepaper," he says. "It felt like the answer to everything."
It was 2010. Kerbrat began mining, deploying wallets, and experimenting with Bitcoin-powered payment gateways. He avoided speculation, focusing instead on the technology’s transformative potential.
"At that stage, you realize crypto isn’t just an asset class—it’s a structural revolution."
Robinhood’s Crypto Gamble
After stints at Airbnb and Uber as a core engineer, Kerbrat joined privacy-focused Layer-1 project Iron Fish as VP of Engineering, diving into zero-knowledge proofs. This reintroduced him to crypto’s biggest flaw: poor user experience.
In 2021, he joined Robinhood Crypto as CTO, rising to SVP/GM by 2023—13 years after first discovering Bitcoin. Under his leadership:
- 2022: Launch of Robinhood Wallet, a non-custodial wallet akin to MetaMask but streamlined for beginners. He calls it "a Web3 browser for everyday people."
- 2023: Enabled Bitcoin transfers and on-chain withdrawals, shifting Robinhood from a trading UI to crypto infrastructure.
- 2024: Orchestrated Robinhood’s acquisition of Bitstamp, leveraging its 50+ European licenses to expand globally. "We can’t bet on the SEC loosening rules," he notes.
"Compliance isn’t a barrier—it’s a moat," Kerbrat emphasizes, crediting it as key to Robinhood’s crypto resilience.
A Full-Circle Moment
Now, on the same Cannes shoreline where he once worked night shifts, Kerbrat stands inside a Belle Époque mansion announcing Robinhood’s boldest crypto suite yet:
- Tokenized Stocks/ETFs: Live in 30 EU countries, offering 24/7 trading, dividends, and zero fees (initially on Arbitrum, later migrating to a custom L2).
- U.S. Crypto Staking: Earn rewards via Ethereum and Solana staking.
- EU Perpetuals: 3x leverage for qualified traders, routed through Bitstamp.
- New L2 Blockchain: Optimized for RWA settlements and round-the-clock trading.
"It’s surreal," Kerbrat admits at the iconic Carlton Hotel, once beyond his reach. "I’d walk past here as a kid—never imagined I’d stay here."
The Road Ahead
The launch coincides with Cannes’ first Ethereum Community Conference and Robinhood’s recent EU regulatory approval. The goal? Making crypto "invisible as plumbing."
"You don’t think about water reaching your tap—you just expect it to work," he says. "That’s our benchmark for adoption."
His parents attended the event, remembering their son’s early days in that cramped apartment, writing code and convincing skeptics that no-code e-commerce was possible.
"We picked Cannes for licenses and conferences," Kerbrat smiles, "but I won’t pretend this homecoming doesn’t feel poetic."
FAQs
Q: How did Johann Kerbrat transition from fast food to fintech?
A: Self-taught coding skills and an early grasp of e-commerce pain points propelled him from McDonald’s to founding a no-code payments startup—years before Shopify’s rise.
Q: What’s unique about Robinhood’s crypto strategy?
A: Focus on compliance-first expansion (e.g., Bitstamp acquisition) and products that abstract blockchain complexity, like tokenized stocks and beginner-friendly wallets.
Q: Why is Robinhood building an L2 blockchain?
A: To streamline settlement for RWAs (real-world assets) and enable 24/7 trading, bridging TradFi and DeFi efficiently.