Robinhood Bets on Its Own Chain-24/7 Trading, DeFi, and Drama

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Finance

What to know:

  • Robinhood has rolled out a public testnet for Robinhood Chain-an Ethereum-based layer-2 built on Arbitrum. And yes, they promise a broader rollout later this year. Perfect timing, right when you’re busy not paying attention?
  • The blockchain is supposed to do 24/7 trading and let you custody tokenized stocks, ETFs and other assets in Robinhood’s crypto wallet, plus dip its toes into DeFi on Ethereum. It’s like a money buffet-all you can tokenize, with a side of skepticism.
  • “What we wanted was the security of Ethereum, the liquidity that is available on EVM chains and the Ethereum ecosystem,” says Robinhood Senior Vice President Johann Kerbrat. Translation: we want the vibe without the waitresses asking if you want dessert.

HONG KONG – Robinhood rolled out its public testnet for its own Ethereum layer-2 on Wednesday, aiming for a broader launch later this year as the brokerage app tries to move more trading activity on-chain. Because nothing says “profit center” like a little on-chain drama, am I right?

The new network, called Robinhood Chain, sits on Arbitrum and is designed to support tokenized real-world assets, including equities, ETFs and other assets. Developers will be able to publicly build on the network for the first time after six months of private testing, ahead of a future mainnet launch. So six months of secret sauce before anyone can taste the soup-delicious suspense!

With the chain, Robinhood aims to allow users to trade 24/7 and self-custody their assets in Robinhood’s crypto wallet. Users will also be able to bridge across different chains and to decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on Ethereum, the company said in a press release. It’s all fun and games until your assets are in a bridge and you’ve forgotten which chain you’re on.

The timing comes as Ethereum’s core roadmap shifts more attention back to the base layer. Certain upgrades have already lowered transaction costs, and further improvements are expected to continue easing congestion, a development that weakens the case for layer-2s as a pure scaling necessity. Or as we like to call it, “look, less traffic, more reasons for us to stay busy.”

Robinhood’s approach suggests it is already operating under that assumption.

“I think Vitalik [Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum] was always pretty clear on this, that L2s were not just here to scale Ethereum,” said Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s senior vice president and general manager of crypto, in an interview with CoinDesk. “For us, it was never really about scaling Ethereum or doing faster transactions.” So basically, it’s not just speed-it’s a lifestyle choice for your assets.

The move builds on Robinhood’s earlier steps into tokenization. Last year, the company rolled out token versions of U.S. stocks and ETFs for European users with dividend payments and extended market hours. Because what’s better than owning a token of a stock? Owning a token of a stock that pays you… in tokens?

Those assets – almost 2,000 stocks and ETFs, according to data by Entropy Advisors on Dune Analytics – were initially issued on Arbitrum. However, the $15 million in total value of the equity tokens Robinhood minted is lagging behind leading issuers xStocks and Ondo Global Markets. Progress, but not exactly the front row at the token parade.

When rollups first gained traction, they were pitched as Ethereum’s answer to high fees and limited throughput. As Ethereum’s base layer capacity improves, that narrative is shifting toward layer-2s as customizable, application-specific environments that can embed features hard to implement on Ethereum itself. Surprise, it’s not just about speed-it’s about making a shape-shifted financial world that fits on a screen.

“What we wanted was the security of Ethereum, the liquidity that is available on EVM chains and the Ethereum ecosystem,” Kerbrat said. “But we were also wanting to have a way to customize the chain and to make it really optimized for traditional assets being tokenized.”

Rather than competing with other high-speed, trading-focused rollups, Robinhood Chain is being designed around tokenized equities and other regulated financial products, where compliance requirements vary by jurisdiction. In other words, it’s legalese with a side of crypto chic.

“The complexity to recreate the entire financial system, and on top of that to bring more things on it, makes it that I think chains are going to specialize,” Kerbrat said. “You’ll see chains that are more specialized for payments, and you’ll see chains like ours that are going to be more specialized around tokenized equity.”

Buterin has recently argued that some rollups may need to accept different decentralization trade-offs, particularly when compliance or real-world assets are involved, a view that has stirred debate across the ecosystem. The soap opera continues, folks.

For Robinhood, Kerbrat said, that shift does not materially change its strategy. “It doesn’t really change anything for us,” he said. “We’ve always been building with the idea that there are different compliance requirements based on the jurisdiction, and all these things can be embedded into the chain.”

Robinhood first announced plans for its own blockchain in June 2025, positioning the project as part of a broader push into tokenization and onchain finance. Since then, development has largely taken place out of public view. Quiet, stealth, a classic move. Now that the testnet is live, developers can access network entry points, documentation, and standard Ethereum development tools. Ahead of mainnet, Robinhood plans to expand testnet functionality to include test-only assets, including stock tokens, along with deeper integrations with its wallet and other onchain financial tooling.

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2026-02-11 04:38