Robinhood Chain Launches Mainnet: Head Protocols Rally While dYdX's Fork Sparks 40% Token Crash
On July 2, 2026, Robinhood announced the mainnet launch of its Layer 2 chain, Robinhood Chain, built on Arbitrum Orbit. The release was accompanied by a suite of crypto products including tokenized stocks, on-chain lending, and AI-powered trading. Robinhood's stock rose 8.35% to $108.6. While the chain quickly onboarded top protocols such as Uniswap, Morpho, and Chainlink, a controversial move by dYdX—launching a new DEX called Arcus on Robinhood Chain instead of dYdX Chain—triggered community backlash, causing DYDX tokens to plunge ~40.7% intraday. This article dissects Robinhood's on-chain strategy, product details, and the dYdX fallout.

