Robinhood has formally launched the general public testnet for its new Ethereum Layer-2 community, marking a serious step towards bringing its hundreds of thousands of customers on-chain. Constructed on Arbitrum (ARB crypto) know-how, this “Robinhood Chain” goals to decrease charges and introduce conventional inventory merchants to the world of decentralized finance (DeFi).
The Robinhood Chain public testnet is stay 🛠️
Builders can now construct on a financial-grade Ethereum Layer 2 constructed on @arbitrum— designed to assist tokenized real-world and digital belongings.
Begin constructing with the core basis of Robinhood Chain: https://t.co/yHCQRh5x3j…
— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) February 11, 2026
Asserting on X, Robinhood highlighted the specific deal with creating a brand new blockchain for tokenization of actual world belongings, an more and more aggressive area over the previous yr as RWA have shot into the spotlights as what some are calling the subsequent main development vertical.
RobinHood Enters Layer-2 Race: What Is a Layer-2 and Why Ought to You Care?
In case you are new to crypto, consider Ethereum like a busy fundamental freeway that usually will get jammed, making tolls (fuel charges) costly (traditionally!). A Layer-2 (L2) community is like including an specific lane on high of that freeway; it’s sooner and cheaper, however nonetheless makes use of the safety of the principle street.
By constructing its personal L2, Robinhood is extending its providing past crypto and inventory buying and selling; it’s making a playground the place builders can construct apps that allow customers commerce tokenized belongings cheaply. This aligns with Vitalik Buterin’s L2 roadmap, which envisions these networks as the first method on a regular basis individuals will work together with the blockchain sooner or later.
Arbitrum’s New Secret Weapon? How Robinhood Chain Works
The Robinhood Chain is constructed utilizing know-how from Offchain Labs (Arbitrum), one of many main names in Ethereum scaling. The purpose right here is restricted: bridging the hole between conventional finance (TradFi) and crypto.
Builders can now begin testing functions in a “low-stakes” surroundings with out utilizing actual cash. The large focus? Tokenized belongings.
Inventory Tokens: Robinhood is testing methods to characterize shares (like particular US equities) as tokens on the blockchain.
Low Prices: Leveraging Arbitrum’s know-how ensures transactions price pennies, not {dollars}.
Companions: They aren’t constructing alone; integrations embrace heavy hitters like Chainlink and LayerZero.
This transfer comes at an attention-grabbing time. Whereas tasks like MegaETH are pushing for uncooked pace, Robinhood is optimizing for person expertise and compliance. In keeping with Johann Kerbrat, GM of Robinhood Crypto, this enables them to “rebuild a few of our techniques” relatively than simply scaling.
Why This Issues Past Retail Buying and selling
That is what we regularly name “adoption.” Robinhood has the huge person base wanted to onboard hundreds of thousands who discover native DeFi too scary or technical. Nevertheless, it additionally highlights the development of corporations constructing their very own chains—much like how ENS deserted its personal L2 plans to deal with technique, Robinhood is diving headfirst into infrastructure to personal the client relationship.
For traders, this might drive worth again to Ethereum finally, particularly because the Ethereum worth fluctuates and the market seems to be for real-world utility to stabilize it. However keep in mind the chance: that is doubtless a “walled backyard” model of crypto, closely regulated and never as free because the pure DeFi ecosystems skilled merchants are used to.
The mainnet launch is deliberate for later in 2026. We can be watching to see if they’ll really merge the benefit of their app with the facility of the blockchain with out compromising the spirit of crypto.
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