Robinhood launched its own Layer 2 blockchain on Wednesday, July 1, built on Arbitrum's Orbit stack. The chain, called Robinhood Chain, settles to Ethereum and uses ETH for gas — there's no native token. Its flagship offering: tokenized versions of stocks like Nvidia, Apple, and Alphabet, issued by a Jersey-based subsidiary. The move marks the trading app's biggest crypto-native play since the GameStop saga.
How the chain works
Robinhood Chain is an Orbit chain, meaning it inherits security from Arbitrum's settlement layer while posting data to Ethereum. It supports standard Solidity and Vyper smart contracts, plus ERC-4337 account abstraction. Chain ID is 4663; testnet is 46630. The chain went live with a roster of infrastructure partners including Alchemy, QuickNode, and Fireblocks.
Tokenized stocks — what they are and aren't
The tokenized equities are debt securities issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited. Holders get no voting rights and no ownership of the underlying company. Redemption is for cash via authorized participants; the firm says it plans to add redemption for actual shares in the future. The tokens are available in more than 120 countries, but not in the US, UK, Canada, Switzerland, or the UAE.
Day-one partners
Beyond infrastructure, the chain launched with integrations from Chainlink, BitGo, LayerZero, Uniswap, 1inch, Morpho, Ethena, Spark, Maple, and several others. The list also includes Pleiades, Lighter, Rialto, Arcus, and Steakhouse. That's a broad set of DeFi and bridging protocols for a chain that's barely a day old.
Adoption numbers still unclear
Mainnet launched just yesterday, so any TVL, transaction count, or active address figures floating around on crypto Twitter are unconfirmed. On-chain verification will take time. The chain's real traction won't be clear for at least a few weeks.
A nod to the GameStop era
Robinhood's crypto push comes five years after the brokerage restricted buying of GME, AMC, and other meme stocks in January 2021, citing clearinghouse collateral demands. CEO Vlad Tenev later testified before Congress. The company has since expanded its crypto offerings, and this L2 is its most ambitious infrastructure bet yet.
What's next? The tokenized stock program is live, but the promised ability to redeem tokens for actual underlying shares hasn't arrived. No timeline has been given. For now, the chain is running — and the industry is watching whether users actually move in.
