Robinhood built a blockchain for tokenized stocks. Memecoins took over
CoinDesk 2026-07-13 15:17:05
Context: Robinhood, a popular trading app, launched a blockchain network called Robinhood Chain on July 1, designed to host tokenized stocks and other real-world assets. However, the network has been dominated by speculative memecoin trading, with assets like CASHCAT surging in value, rather than its intended use case. The chain has seen significant growth, with $312 million in total value locked and 3.6 million daily transactions.
Key Facts
- Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum layer-2 built on Arbitrum's Orbit stack, has reached $312 million in total value locked and 3.6 million daily transactions since its launch on July 1.
- The network has drawn nearly 800,000 lifetime active addresses and cleared $838 million in decentralized exchange volume over 24 hours, with fees running a fraction of a cent per transaction.
- Despite being built for tokenized real-world assets, these assets account for only about $12.8 million on the chain, while memecoins like CASHCAT and stablecoins dominate activity and market value.
- The CASHCAT memecoin has surged 2,158% over the past 7 days, with a $156 million market cap, and has spawned an entire ecosystem of Robinhood-themed tokens.
- Robinhood Chain has recently surpassed Base in daily transaction count, processing 10.4 million transactions compared to Base's 6.4 million, according to Token Terminal.