Robinhood Launches Its Own Blockchain Network for DeFi Access

Robinhood has announced the debut of 'Robinhood Chain,' a proprietary blockchain network developed by the retail brokerage and crypto trading platform. The launch marks the company's direct entry into blockchain infrastructure, extending its presence beyond trading services into the decentralized finance space.

Robinhood Chain is designed to give the platform's user base access to DeFi products and on-chain financial services. The move positions Robinhood as both a custodial trading venue and an active participant in the broader Web3 ecosystem, competing with established blockchain platforms.

The announcement comes amid notable price movements across major crypto assets. Bitcoin stood at $61,465.00, up 5.41% on the day, while Ethereum traded at $1,661.75, gaining 6.18%. Solana posted a sharper gain of 9.30%, reaching $81.28, and XRP rose 5.67% to $1.093.

Among altcoins, UNI led with a 15.96% gain to $3.16, followed by LIT up 17.89% to $2.17, and PENDLE advancing 13.80% to $1.51. ZEC added 13.39%, reaching $448.19. TAO gained 7.95% to $212.29, and NEAR rose 8.11% to $1.93.

On the stablecoin side, USDC held at $0.999818 and USDT-adjacent instruments remained close to their $1.00 pegs, reflecting stable demand for dollar-denominated assets during the market upswing.

Notable outliers included VELVET, which dropped 63.85%, TAC falling 34.15%, and DYDX declining 25.32%. BEAT surged 27.36% to $2.87, and M posted a 75.58% gain to $1.63, though both trade at relatively low liquidity tiers.

Gold-backed tokens also moved higher, with XAUT at $4,113.45 (+2.40%) and PAXG at $4,116.04 (+2.43%), tracking spot gold prices.

Robinhood's chain launch is expected to support features such as on-chain wallet infrastructure, token swaps, and potentially yield-bearing products accessible directly through the Robinhood interface. Further technical details, including the chain's consensus mechanism and whether it operates as a layer-2 or independent layer-1 network, had not been fully disclosed at the time of the announcement.

The company has been expanding its crypto offerings steadily, having previously introduced crypto wallets and a broader selection of digital assets for trading. The introduction of a proprietary chain represents a significant escalation of that strategy, aligning Robinhood with firms such as Coinbase, which launched its own Base layer-2 network on Ethereum in 2023.