Robinhood launches Ethereum L2 chain as Arcus raises $12.5M for perps

Robinhood Markets jumped into the blockchain infrastructure race on Wednesday, launching an Ethereum layer-2 network designed to power tokenized asset trading and onchain perpetuals.

Robinhood Markets (HOOD) introduced Robinhood Chain, an internally developed Ethereum-based layer-2 blockchain, on July 2, positioning the network as the foundation for its expanding tokenized asset business. Shares closed higher in holiday-shortened trading as the company joined a growing list of retail trading platforms building proprietary blockchain infrastructure.

"Until now, traders have been shut out of the most valuable markets on earth — US equities, commodities, and indices — because of where they live, market hours, and institutions restricting access," Arcus, a decentralized exchange built on Robinhood Chain, said in a blog post. "We built Arcus to reduce these barriers."

Arcus will offer perpetual futures and tokenized stock trading starting this month, allowing tokenized equities to serve as collateral for perpetual positions and providing access to pre-IPO markets, according to the protocol. Robinhood Crypto, the company's digital asset arm, made an investment in Arcus though it did not disclose the amount. Separately, eToro led a $12.5 million funding round in Extended, another onchain perpetuals exchange, The Block reported Wednesday. Bitget Wallet partnered with Robinhood Crypto to integrate the blockchain for tokenized stock trading, while 1inch said it would be among the first major swap platforms to support the network.

The launch follows Coinbase's 2023 rollout of Base, its Ethereum layer-2 blockchain that has grown to become the fifth-largest by total value locked, according to DeFiLlama. Robinhood's push into blockchain infrastructure and tokenized assets positions it to compete directly with Coinbase as both retail platforms expand beyond crypto trading into broader financial services. The dYdX Foundation said Arcus "is a distinct, independent product built on separate infrastructure" and that the dYdX blockchain would continue operating under community ownership.

Robinhood's embrace of perpetual trading comes as it looks to attract users who have migrated to platforms such as Hyperliquid, whose token has climbed nearly 150% this year as it captured market share, according to CoinGecko data. The move also extends a broader industry trend: major retail-focused platforms are building proprietary blockchain networks to retain users and capture fee revenue from onchain activity.

The company's blockchain strategy mirrors Coinbase's approach with Base, which now supports hundreds of decentralized applications and has processed billions of dollars in transaction volume since its 2023 debut. Robinhood has not disclosed technical specifications for its chain, including transaction throughput or validator set composition. For investors, the question is whether Robinhood Chain can replicate Base's ecosystem growth — Base attracted more than $3 billion in total value locked within 18 months of launch, per DefiLlama — and whether tokenized equities on the network can draw a meaningful share of the $300 billion global securities services market.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.