Robinhood Launches Public Testnet for RWA-Focused L2
Robinhood has launched the public testnet for 'Robinhood Chain,' an Ethereum Layer-2 network built using Arbitrum's technology. The chain is designed to support tokenized real-world assets and other on-chain financial services, aiming to create an open ecosystem for developers. A $1 million test campaign is underway to stress-test the network, which targets Arbitrum's growing $773 million RWA market.
- Robinhood Chain is built using Arbitrum's Orbit stack, a framework that allows for the creation of customizable Layer 2 chains. This enables Robinhood to establish its own rules for governance and compliance, a crucial feature for a regulated financial entity, while inheriting the security of the Ethereum mainnet. - The chain is configured to use ETH as its native gas token and leverages Ethereum blobs for data availability. This technical setup is designed to offer lower transaction fees and higher throughput compared to the Ethereum mainnet. - The choice to focus on RWAs places Robinhood in a rapidly expanding niche within the Arbitrum ecosystem, which already hosts over $214 million in tokenized real-world assets. U.S. Treasuries represent 97% of this market on Arbitrum. - This initiative builds on Robinhood's prior experience with tokenization; the firm has been running an eight-month pilot program offering tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs to its European clients on the Arbitrum One network. These existing assets are expected to be migrated to the Robinhood Chain after its mainnet launch. - According to Johann Kerbrat, GM of Robinhood Crypto, the vision is to create an open ecosystem that can eventually rival traditional exchange infrastructure like the NYSE or Nasdaq but in a permissionless manner. The mainnet is expected to go live after feedback is collected from developers during the testnet phase. - To bootstrap the ecosystem, Robinhood has committed $1 million to the Arbitrum Open House program for 2026, which will fund developer activity through global buildathons and founder houses in hubs like New York City, Dubai, London, and Singapore. - A number of key infrastructure providers are already building on the testnet, including Alchemy, Chainlink, LayerZero, Allium, and TRM, indicating foundational support for the new network. - The broader institutional move into RWA tokenization includes major financial players like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton, who are also active in the space and on Arbitrum. Market forecasts project the total value of tokenized assets could reach between $4 trillion and $10 trillion by 2030.
