Robinhood’s new Ethereum layer-2 network, Robinhood Chain, has quickly attracted heavy crypto activity since going live on July 1, but not mainly for the tokenized stocks it was built to host. According to CoinDesk, memecoins, stablecoins and decentralized exchange trading have dominated the chain’s early usage, while tokenized real-world assets remain a small share of the network.
The development matters because Robinhood positioned the chain as infrastructure for tokenized equities and other real-world assets, a major theme across crypto and traditional finance. Instead, the early data shows a familiar pattern in new blockchain launches: speculative trading can arrive faster than the intended long-term use case.
CoinDesk reported that Robinhood Chain reached about $135 million in total value locked, up from $17 million on July 3, and generated $3.1 billion in decentralized exchange volume over the previous week. The chain also drew nearly 800,000 lifetime active addresses and processed millions of daily transactions, with fees at a fraction of a cent.
The standout token has been CASHCAT, a cat-themed memecoin named after Robinhood’s former mascot. CoinDesk said CASHCAT rose 2,158% over seven days and reached a $156 million market cap, while tokenized real-world assets on the chain were worth about $12.81 million as of Monday morning, including $10.68 million in stocks.
Robinhood Chain is built on Arbitrum’s Orbit stack and settles transactions on Ethereum. Its stock tokens are onchain versions of equities such as Nvidia and Apple, structured as tokenized debt securities and not available to U.S. persons, according to the source.
For now, the central question is whether Robinhood can turn this early traffic into demand for tokenized equities and real-world assets. If activity remains concentrated in memecoins while the chain’s flagship assets stay small, Robinhood Chain may look less like a tokenization breakthrough and more like another venue where crypto speculation arrived first.