Robinhood Launches Public Blockchain, Sets Sights On UK Crypto Trading

Robinhood has officially launched its public mainnet, Robinhood Chain, a layer 2 blockchain built on Arbitrum. The network moved from testnet to mainnet on Wednesday, roughly four months after testing began in February. The company describes the chain as built for real-world assets and designed with AI-native features.

UK Crypto Trading And Tokenized Stocks Expand

Robinhood plans to roll out crypto trading in the UK soon. Its tokenized stock products are already live through the company’s wallet app in more than 120 countries. CEO Vlad Tenev has previously called tokenized stocks inevitable, saying they could help avoid trading freezes seen on traditional exchanges.

New Earn Product And Recent Layoffs

Robinhood also introduced Robinhood Earn, letting users lend USDG stablecoin through a self-custody wallet at around 7% annual yield. The mainnet launch follows Tenev’s announcement of a 10% workforce cut. Robinhood shares rose about 8% on Wednesday. The company reports Q2 earnings on July 29, after crypto revenue fell nearly 50% year-on-year in Q1, from $252 million to $134 million.

Robinhood Chain enters a market led by Base, Coinbase’s L2 network, which recently suffered two outages within hours due to a sequencer bug. Base remains the second-largest L2 network by value secured, at about $11 billion.