Robinhood Chain Mainnet Launch: L2 Infrastructure for Institutions and RWAs
On July 2, Robinhood held its 'The World is Flat' event in London, officially launching its Layer 2 chain, Robinhood Chain. Built on Arbitrum Orbit, the chain is positioned as an institutional-grade, AI-native blockchain infrastructure optimized for real-world assets (RWAs). Following the announcement, Robinhood's stock rose 8.35% to $108.6, hitting its highest level in six months.
In a highly concentrated L2 landscape, Robinhood Chain leveraged its parent company's massive user base—approximately 28 million registered users and 27.7 million funded accounts—to quickly onboard top protocols including Uniswap, 1inch, Lighter, Morpho, Chainlink, BitGo, Ethena, and EtherFi, covering trading, liquidity, lending, oracles, custody, and cross-chain services.
Product Suite: Tokenized Stocks, On-Chain Lending, AI Trading
Around Robinhood Chain, Robinhood expanded its on-chain product matrix. For tokenized stocks, Robinhood Wallet added support across 120+ countries and regions. Users can trade tokenized stocks via DEXs like Uniswap, Rialto, Lighter, 1inch, and Arcus, and use them as collateral for lending or liquidity pool yields in DeFi. Previously limited to Europe, this global expansion reflects fast-growing demand for tokenized assets and intensifying competition between traditional and crypto trading platforms.
For on-chain perpetuals, Robinhood Wallet enabled trading of stocks, commodities, and other assets outside traditional market hours. To boost adoption, Robinhood offers 90-day fee and gas subsidies, plus incentive points. In yield products, Robinhood Earn—the app's first decentralized lending product—is gradually rolling out to U.S. users. Users deposit USDG stablecoins into self-custodial wallets to earn an estimated ~7% APY. The product uses Morpho's lending infrastructure, supported by Steakhouse, Ethena, Spark, and Maple, with insurance mechanisms to mitigate risk.
Robinhood also extended its AI trading capabilities on-chain with crypto Agentic Accounts. Eligible U.S. users can connect AI models, set risk parameters and capital limits, and let the AI autonomously execute market scanning and trading strategies—tools previously introduced for stocks and options. These expansions come as Robinhood's crypto business faces headwinds: Q1 crypto revenue fell 47% year-over-year to $134 million, and crypto notional trading volume dropped 48% to $24 billion. Globally, Robinhood serves ~28 million users and continues expanding—Canada launch, Singapore MAS license, European commodities/ETF perpetuals, and upcoming UK crypto trading.
dYdX's Arcus on Robinhood Chain Sparks Community Uproar
On July 2, the dYdX Foundation announced a partnership with Robinhood to launch Arcus, a decentralized exchange built on Robinhood Chain. Arcus supports 95 tokenized stocks, perpetuals, and major crypto assets, with plans for tokenized stock/crypto collateral for perpetuals and Pre-IPO equity trading for private companies like OpenAI. A beta version is live, with a full launch expected in late 2026.
The controversy stems from Arcus being deployed on Robinhood Chain rather than dYdX Chain, operating as a separate product. Founder Antonio explained in an open letter that running a standalone public chain forces trade-offs among performance, UX, and decentralization, while competitors with faster execution, simpler UX, and deeper liquidity gain market share. Robinhood Chain was chosen for its 27.7 million funded accounts providing ready user base and liquidity. Additionally, Arcus received a strategic investment from Robinhood Crypto.
However, the community reacted negatively, accusing the core team of 'starting a new shop' that diverts development resources, product focus, and market attention to Arcus, potentially cannibalizing the dYdX brand. Given dYdX's history of one of the largest airdrops in the industry and Arcus's potential token launch, traders and liquidity may migrate to the new platform, reducing dYdX Chain activity and diluting DYDX token value. The dYdX Foundation insisted its commitment to the dYdX protocol and governance remains unchanged; dYdX Chain continues normal operation, with DYDX governance and staking mechanisms intact. Antonio also promised that if Arcus issues a token, a portion will be allocated to the dYdX community, and Arcus will prioritize access for dYdX traders. Despite these reassurances, market fears persisted, driving DYDX down approximately 40.7% intraday.