Robinhood Chain Draws $70 Million in ETH During First Week

Robinhood Chain, a new Ethereum-based layer-2 network, drew more than $70 million in ETH during its first week online. Data from Token Terminal show a rapid rise in user activity and platform revenue within just days of launch. The network went live on July 1, and within days it drew attention from analysts at several independent trackers.

Launch and Early Numbers

Robinhood Chain runs as an EVM-compatible network built on Arbitrum technology. The company described the project as a platform for real-world asset tokenization with support for AI-native services. The network's gas token is Ethereum, and that choice immediately affected demand for the asset. Layer-2 networks process most transactions separately from the main Ethereum blockchain, then periodically post summary data back to it. That approach cuts fees and speeds up confirmation while keeping the security of the base layer intact. EVM compatibility means developers can port applications from Ethereum without rewriting code from scratch. Robinhood already offers tokenized stocks to customers in more than 120 countries, responding to surging demand for tokenized US equities. The new chain extends that strategy and gives the company its own technical base instead of renting someone else's infrastructure. The company emphasizes an "AI-native" design: the infrastructure is built to handle automated payments between AI agents, seen as one of the next big trends in Web3 alongside asset tokenization.

Where the Capital Is Flowing

According to DefiLlama and Token Terminal, several metrics confirm the network's growth during its first week. The inflow of capital happened almost instantly.

• Total value locked reached 46,748 ETH, roughly $83 million at current prices.
• Thursday alone brought in 31,855 ETH, close to $55 million in fresh inflows.
• Daily active wallets topped 194,000.
• Daily revenue climbed to $39,000, putting the annualized run rate near $14 million.

Figures from the two independent trackers line up closely, which is unusual for a freshly launched network, since methodology differences often produce mismatched numbers. How quickly the capital moved in suggests Robinhood's existing user base was already interested in tokenized assets well before the product went live. Those figures matter because TVL reflects the capital users have entrusted to the network, while revenue shows how much the platform actually earns from fees. When both climb together, it points to genuine usage rather than a speculative spike.

Ethereum as the Network's Gas Token

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams said nearly all activity on Robinhood Chain is denominated in ETH. It serves as the base trading pair, the most liquid asset, and the gas payment token all at once. He added that the network also burns a portion of Ethereum on layer 1 to cover data storage fees. That means active trading directly shrinks the coin's circulating supply rather than simply moving it between wallets. A share of the fees users pay for computation and for posting transactions back to the main chain ends up as burned ETH.

Bitrue Research Institute analyst Andri Fauzan Adziima called the network's early volume validation of the layer-2 model. Each transaction, in his view, both locks up user capital and builds steady demand for Ethereum. In plain terms, the more people trade on Robinhood Chain, the less free-floating ETH stays on the open market. For coin holders, that amounts to a new, ongoing spending channel that doesn't depend on exchange price swings. The effect is amplified because Robinhood Chain instantly gained access to the brokerage's massive client base, many of whom had no prior exposure to DeFi. For Ethereum, that's a near-guaranteed stream of new wallets and transactions that doesn't hinge on traditional crypto traders.

How the Market Is Reacting

"The biggest benefit for Ethereum is that Robinhood Chain uses ETH to pay gas. As bridged assets, wallet addresses, and on-chain transactions grow, new demand for the asset builds."

- Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey Group, comment for Cointelegraph

Sun said the deeper significance goes beyond gas spending. Robinhood is building its own financial infrastructure directly on Ethereum rather than renting someone else's chain to launch a product. Layer-2 networks on that blockchain already control more than half the real-world asset tokenization market, according to RWA.xyz. Bitcoin, in turn, traded around $64,370, while Ethereum climbed to roughly $1,800, still 64% below its August 2025 peak. Market participants tie Ethereum's longer-term outlook to asset tokenization, AI-agent payments, and institutional demand. Analysts also point separately to the Glamsterdam upgrade expected before the end of 2026, which should expand layer-1 capacity. Ethereum's price has stayed in deep bear-market territory for weeks, so the Robinhood Chain news reads as a rare bright spot for the asset. Still, analysts caution that a single network launch isn't enough to reverse the trend without a broader recovery in institutional demand. Anyone planning to sell Ethereum for hryvnia in the coming days should factor in the current rate swings before making a move at an exchanger.