Robinhood Chain draws users as memecoins dominate trading

Robinhood opened Robinhood Chain to the public on July 1. The network is an Ethereum layer-2 built on Arbitrum technology and supports tokenized stock products, around-the-clock trading and integrations with established crypto services. Robinhood Wallet and decentralized exchanges were available at launch.

Activity surged quickly. Token Terminal data showed monthly active addresses rose to more than 1 million within a week. Decentralized exchanges on the chain handled roughly $3.1 billion in spot trading over a seven-day period, DeFiLlama data indicated. Stablecoin supply on the chain exceeded $300 million and Arbitrum reported more than $800,000 in revenue during a single week. About 62,000 unique addresses held stock or ETF tokens within two weeks, representing roughly 11% of tokenized-stock addresses across the market, according to Token Terminal.

Data specialists identified a concentration of speculative token trading. Tom Wan, head of data at Entropy Advisors, estimated memecoins made up about 80% of spot trading on the chain’s decentralized exchanges. The cat-themed token CASHCAT reached a market value near $150 million during its initial rally, a figure larger than the combined value of tokenized stocks on the network at the same time.

Coinbase’s Base experienced similar dynamics earlier. On July 15, Base creator Jesse Pollak wrote that “The entire social side of the market that many of us had been building towards — Farcaster, Zora, mini apps, and yes, creator coins — disintegrated completely.” Base had focused on social products and creator tokens after its launch, and daily user counts fell from a mid-2025 peak as developers and capital shifted toward stablecoins, perpetual futures and prediction markets.

Base is reorganizing its strategy. Pollak returned oversight of the consumer app to Coinbase, placing Jordan Fish in charge of the app, while Pollak will concentrate on positioning Base as settlement infrastructure for trading, payments and tokenized assets. Pollak wrote that the team intends to build “Base into the blockchain for global finance” and to make it “the place that the world’s money settles over the next century.” Base also plans to support AI agents that can hold and spend cryptocurrency.

Robinhood’s network follows a different distribution path. The company leveraged its brokerage customer base and international reach to offer tokenized equities and trading access on the new chain. Robinhood described features including extended trading hours, self-custody options and lending integrations with partners such as Uniswap, Chainlink and BitGo.

Industry analysts highlighted the gap between early trading volume and the specific financial products the networks target. Jon Ma, co-founder of the blockchain data firm Artemis, noted that memecoins can generate rapid user and fee growth but warned that losses from short-lived tokens may erode trust and complicate efforts to build markets for tokenized securities and enterprise payments. Ma also calculated an optimistic revenue scenario for Robinhood Chain that would require about 100 million monthly users generating roughly $100 per user annually to reach an estimated $10 billion in revenue.

At launch, Robinhood Chain’s activity was dominated by memecoin trading while tokenized stocks, lending markets and payment rails were available on the network. Coinbase’s Base is redirecting resources toward trading, payments and tokenized assets as it reshapes its long-term strategy.