Robinhood Built a Chain for Stocks. Memes Took Over.

Summary

Robinhood launched its own Arbitrum-based L2 chain for tokenized real-world assets, but early trading volume was dominated by memecoins. GM of Crypto Johann Kerbrat discusses the permissionless approach, the potential of 24/7 tokenized stock trading, the role of USDG stablecoin, and the company's diversified revenue model.

• Robinhood launched 'Robinhood Chain', an Ethereum L2 on Arbitrum, to tokenize RWAs and offer DeFi products.
• Despite RWAs being the intended focus, memecoins like Cash Cat drove ~85% of early DEX volume and pushed TVL past $370M.
• Stock tokens are available in 120 countries but not yet in the US/UK due to regulations, with hopes for the Clarity Act to change that.
• Robinhood partnered with Lighter for perpetuals, building a custom UI to simplify crypto derivatives trading.
• USDG was chosen as the chain's stablecoin backbone for its yield-sharing model with network participants.
• Kerbrat stressed that the chain is permissionless, but the Robinhood wallet applies security scans and jurisdictional restrictions.
• He highlighted Robinhood's 11 business lines to explain how crypto revenue volatility is mitigated by other segments.