Robinhood has officially launched the public mainnet of its Ethereum layer-2 network, dubbed Robinhood Chain, marking a significant step in its efforts to integrate traditional finance with cryptocurrency offerings. The Arbitrum-powered network is designed to facilitate connections between the traditional financial ecosystem and the burgeoning world of decentralized finance (DeFi).
This launch is highlighted by partnerships with industry stalwarts such as BitGo and Chainlink, as well as collaborations with Uniswap and Pleiades. These partnerships aim to provide automated market-making capabilities for public liquidity and proprietary trading solutions. Robinhood emphasizes that its network is “AI-native,” enabling trading facilitated by artificial intelligence agents.
According to Johann Kerbrat, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto and International at Robinhood, the decentralized finance sector presents opportunities beyond what traditional finance can provide. However, Kerbrat acknowledged that navigating the DeFi landscape has historically required technical expertise. He stated, “We’re bringing the best of traditional finance and DeFi together, and in doing so, expanding financial ownership to every corner of the globe.”
The launch of Robinhood Chain also enhances the functionality of the firm’s “Stock Tokens.” These tokenized on-chain representations of shares from major corporations, such as Nvidia and Apple, will enable users in eligible regions—excluding the United States—to engage in lending pools and leverage these tokens as collateral in DeFi transactions.
Additionally, Robinhood is expanding its wallet features to facilitate perpetual trading directly within the app through a decentralized perpetuals exchange called Lighter. Furthermore, eligible U.S. users will have access to Robinhood Earn, which allows them to lend dollar-backed stablecoin USDG with an annual percentage yield of approximately 7%.
A significant part of this announcement is Robinhood’s ambitious plan for geographic expansion. The company is extending its services to include users from Canada and is planning to launch in Singapore soon. Robinhood also aims to roll out crypto services to users in the U.K. in the near future, complementing its current user base of nearly 28 million.
On the back of this news, Robinhood’s shares experienced a rise of over 8% on Wednesday, reflecting a nearly 20% increase over the past month. As of the close on that day, shares were trading at $108.65. Nonetheless, this is still more than 29% lower than its 52-week high of $153.86. The firm recently faced challenges, cutting about 10% of its workforce in response to a significant drop in revenue from its crypto offerings, which saw a 34% decline quarter-over-quarter, dropping from $221 million to $134 million.
As Robinhood increasingly intertwines its offerings of traditional financial instruments with innovative crypto products, it remains poised to deepen its impact on both sectors, while addressing the complexities often associated with decentralized finance.
