From McDonald's 'McWorker' to Robinhood Vice President, Johann Kerbrat's Life Comeback

Original Title: "15 Years Ago, Flipping Burgers in Cannes, Now Steering Robinhood's Global Crypto Expansion"

Original Source: BitPush

Fifteen years ago, in a small apartment near Le Suquet in France, 21-year-old Johann Kerbrat worked at McDonald's during the day and self-taught programming at night. Today, as the Senior Vice President and Crypto Lead at Robinhood, he returns to the place with the company's most ambitious crypto product suite.

Cannes "Memories"

"Back then, my studio was probably smaller than your bathroom," Kerbrat recalled. Before enrolling at the nearby University of Nice, he quit his job to start his first fintech startup—a no-code payment company that helped small merchants set up e-commerce websites without hiring developers.

"That was the beginning of e-commerce. At that time, merchants either spent tens of thousands of euros hiring agencies or couldn't conduct business online. Our idea was to allow people to set up their own stores without technical knowledge—kind of like Shopify today." The timing was perfect. In the early 2010s, online commerce was booming, and Kerbrat's tool gave small merchants a chance to compete. It also made him realize how fragile and expensive the global financial system was.

Enlightenment: Bitcoin Whitepaper

Kerbrat later recalled that a conversation with a Greek classmate made him aware of the "fragility" of the traditional banking system. The classmate told him that his family's bank accounts were frozen during the Eurozone crisis, causing a standstill in their lives. Meanwhile, merchants on his platform kept providing feedback: high fees, complex refund processes, and credit card fraud had become uncontrollable sunk costs.

"Then I read the Bitcoin whitepaper," he said, "and I thought, 'Well, this is truly the solution to all problems.'"

That was in 2010. Kerbrat started assembling mining rigs, deployed wallets, and tried to build a Bitcoin-based payment interface. He didn't get rich overnight with Bitcoin, nor did he choose to be a speculator; instead, he tried to understand the true potential behind this technology. "At that stage, you realize that cryptocurrency is not just an asset but a structural change."

Leading Robinhood's "Bold Bet" on Crypto

Later, he moved on to Airbnb and Uber, becoming a core platform engineer. Before joining Robinhood, he also served as the VP of Engineering at Iron Fish (a privacy-focused Layer1 blockchain project), focusing on zero-knowledge proofs and other privacy technologies. This experience brought him back to the crypto space and made him realize that "user experience" is the biggest drawback in the crypto industry.

In 2021, he officially joined Robinhood Crypto as Chief Technology Officer, and in 2023, he was promoted to Senior Vice President and General Manager. By this time, it had been exactly 13 years since he first opened the Bitcoin whitepaper.

Under Kerbrat's leadership, Robinhood Crypto has launched several key products:

· In 2022, Robinhood Wallet was launched. This is a non-custodial wallet similar to MetaMask but with a more streamlined interface aimed at novice users. He described it as a "Web3 browser for the average person."

· Starting in 2023, support for Bitcoin transfers and on-chain asset withdrawals began, marking Robinhood's transition from a "trading interface" to "crypto infrastructure."

· In 2024, he led Robinhood's acquisition of the European crypto exchange Bitstamp, aiming to enter the European market leveraging Bitstamp's 50+ licenses.

He viewed this as an inevitable choice amid unclear U.S. regulation: "We can't bet our future on <if the SEC relaxes regulations>." He emphasized, "Compliance is not a barrier, but a market barrier." This is also a key factor that has allowed Robinhood to establish a foothold in the crypto business.

The Grand "Return"

Now, on the Cannes coastline, the same coastline where he once lived and worked night shifts in fast food, Kerbrat finds himself in a Belle Époque mansion called the "Château de la Croix des Gardes," participating in the launch of Robinhood's most ambitious crypto product suite in history.

On Monday, the company announced plans to expand tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs' issuance in Europe, launch cryptocurrency staking services in the U.S., provide perpetual futures to eligible EU traders, and introduce a new Layer 2 blockchain for real-world asset settlement and round-the-clock trading optimization.

"This is absolutely surreal," Kerbrat said from within the iconic Carlton Hotel, a five-star landmark hotel that had once seemed out of reach to him. "When I was young, I used to walk by here often—I never thought I could live here."

Robinhood's New Layout

The release coincided with the first-ever Ethereum community conference held in Cannes and Robinhood's recent regulatory approval in Europe. Robinhood's latest move is its most serious attempt yet to integrate traditional finance with blockchain-based infrastructure. Following the announcement, Robinhood's stock price reached an all-time high, with a year-to-date increase of over 100%.

Kerbrat stated that their goal is not to flaunt features but to have the cryptographic technology "disappear" in the background, likening it to a "pipeline." "You don't think about how the water makes it to your faucet," he said, "you just expect it to turn on and work."

But there are still "pipes" to build.

The core of the Monday release is the tokenization of US stocks and ETFs, now available to users in 30 European Union and European Economic Area countries. These tokens are initially built on Arbitrum, offering trading access 5 days a week, 24 hours a day, supporting dividend payments, and with Robinhood not charging commissions or spreads. Eventually, they will migrate to a custom Layer 2 blockchain supporting tokenized assets, seamless bridging, and self-custody.

In the US, Robinhood is rolling out Ethereum and Solana staking services allowing users to earn rewards by supporting network operations. In Europe, cryptocurrency perpetual futures will offer up to 3x leverage for eligible users, routed through Bitstamp. Other upgrades include smart trade routing, tax batch management, and advanced charting tools—all aimed at making cryptocurrency trading as seamless and intuitive as stock trading.

"When we talk about mass adoption," Johann Kerbrat said, "this is what it looks like. A product that people use—without needing to understand how it works."

For Johann Kerbrat, who spent his teenage years in Cannes and Nice, this homecoming is more than symbolic. It has seen how far he has come—and how much still feels the same.

His father worked in IT, his mother stayed at home to care for him and his sister. One day, his father brought home a clunky old Apple computer with a black-and-white screen, and that was the "spark." At the age of 7, he began tinkering with computers. At 11, he was coding regularly. By the time he was 17, he was already trying to fix the internet economy glitches he saw.

Kerbrat's parents intentionally came to watch the keynote. He said they still remember those early days—the cramped apartment, the first line of code, and the endless conversations with skeptical merchants—anyone can build an e-commerce website without knowing how to program.

"We chose Cannes because the licensing approval and the conference are here," Kerbrat said, "but I won't pretend this doesn't feel weird." He paused for a moment, collected his thoughts, "Never thought I'd come back this way."

Note: The article information is compiled from sources such as CNBC, Unchained Podcast, Robinhood Investor Relations website, etc.

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