Robinhood is building the brokerage itself on-chain. Johann Kerbrat, VP of Crypto at Robinhood, confirmed the Robinhood Chain is an Arbitrum Orbit Layer 3 built in Rust, designed to handle millions of transactions at near-zero cost. The firm is migrating its core business logic onto this network, aiming to replace traditional clearing and settlement systems with blockchain speed and verifiable history.
“Robinhood’s long-term vision is to replace traditional financial systems with blockchain technology for its speed, verifiable history, and decentralization.”
- Johann Kerbrat, Bankless
The chain launched with massive immediate volume, processing over one million transactions within 24 hours. On Bankless, David Hoffman and Ryan Sean Adams argued this vertical integration turns Robinhood from an interface into a destination, capturing sequencer fees and bundling services traditional finance cannot replicate due to legacy friction.
Tokenized stocks are the first concrete proof. Kerbrat said these assets, bridged from BitStamp onto the Robinhood Chain, are one-to-one backed and carry dividend rights. They can then move to Uniswap or Lighter, creating a 24/7 marketplace for U.S. equities that bypasses NYSE hours. If the brokerage fails, the customer’s on-chain position remains secure.
Robinhood is also aggressively pursuing deposits via DeFi yield, offering 7% on the Paxos-issued USDG stablecoin through Morpho lending vaults. Kerbrat noted USDG shares treasury revenue with network members, unlike Tether or USDC, allowing Robinhood to pass higher rates back to users. The firm is hiding this complexity behind a smart wallet interface aimed at its 27 million non-crypto users.
“Robinhood Wallet targets a non-crypto audience, simplifying UX to onboard users who avoid engineer-centric wallets like MetaMask.”
- Johann Kerbrat, Bankless
The move confirms a broader fintech pivot from three days earlier, when Bankless noted Robinhood was no longer content being a mere interface and was following Coinbase’s Base playbook to capture sequencer fees. The thesis has evolved from a plan to a live network with measurable transaction flow and a clear path to replace legacy systems.
