Robinhood has launched the public testnet for Robinhood Chain, a financial-grade Ethereum Layer-2 built on Arbitrum. Johann Kerbrat, SVP and General Manager of Robinhood Crypto, announced the testnet at Consensus Hong Kong on Wednesday, marking the first public development phase of a chain first teased at the company’s Cannes keynote last year.
In an interview with BeInCrypto in Hong Kong ahead of the announcement, Kerbrat outlined the company’s vision for the chain, including tokenized real-world assets, 24/7 trading, and a $1 million developer hackathon program.
Sponsored
Sponsored
Why Build Its Own Chain
The testnet opens access to network entry points, developer documentation, and full compatibility with standard Ethereum development tools. Ecosystem partners, including Alchemy and LayerZero, are already building on the chain.
The launch comes at a critical moment. Robinhood disclosed $1.28 billion in fourth-quarter revenue on Tuesday, missing analyst expectations of $1.35 billion. Crypto transaction revenue fell to $221 million from $268 million the previous quarter as Bitcoin dropped 23% during the period. The company’s stock has slid from an all-time high of $154 in October amid the broader crypto downturn.
Robinhood first brought tokenized US equities to EU customers in July 2025 through a partnership with Arbitrum, offering commission-free tokens linked to more than 200 US stocks and ETFs. The product now covers over 1,000 stock tokens across the EU and EEA. But the company always intended to migrate to its own chain.
The central motivation is customization. General-purpose Layer 2 networks handle compliance at the smart contract level, but Robinhood Chain embeds regulatory requirements directly into the chain layer. This distinction matters for tokenized securities, where minting and burning stock tokens must comply with different rules across jurisdictions.
The chain itself remains permissionless — anyone can build on it — but the products Robinhood develops on top are designed specifically for regulated financial services.
From Stock Tokens to Real-World Assets
Tokenized public equities were the starting point, but Robinhood’s ambitions extend well beyond listed stocks. Kerbrat said the company’s tokenization engine is designed to eventually support private equity, real estate, art, and other real-world assets.
Sponsored
Sponsored
A key part of the value proposition is expanding trading hours. Robinhood’s stock tokens currently trade 24 hours a day, five days a week. The migration to Robinhood Chain is expected to enable 24/7 trading — removing the remaining gaps tied to traditional market schedules.
Instant settlement and self-custody are also on the roadmap, along with integration with liquidity pools and lending protocols. Together, these features represent a significant upgrade from the current tokenized stock product, which relies on Arbitrum One infrastructure.
Developer Ecosystem and DeFi Focus
In the near term, Robinhood is focused on attracting developers to build decentralized exchanges, perpetual trading platforms, and lending protocols on the chain. These are natural extensions of its existing brokerage and crypto products.
To jumpstart the ecosystem, the company is planning a series of hackathons across multiple geographies with a total prize pool of $1 million. Kerbrat said the focus will be squarely on financial applications.
Sponsored
Sponsored
Asia-Pacific Expansion
The testnet launch at Consensus Hong Kong coincides with Robinhood’s deepening push into the Asia-Pacific region. Robinhood completed its $200 million acquisition of Bitstamp in June 2025, gaining access to the exchange’s more than 50 active licenses and registrations worldwide, as well as its institutional crypto-as-a-service business.
Kerbrat said the event provided an opportunity to meet Bitstamp’s Singapore-based clients in person. Through the acquisition, Robinhood now holds licenses in Singapore and Indonesia. It also acquired two smaller Indonesian companies to build a local presence.
Indonesia, with roughly 13 million crypto users, is a priority market. Kerbrat said early conversations with Indonesian regulators have been positive, with discussions centering on AML compliance and risk disclosures rather than resistance to the company’s entry.
Robinhood’s regulatory track record — spanning FINRA, New York DFS, MiCA in the EU, and MAS in Singapore — gives the company confidence in navigating different jurisdictions, Kerbrat said.
Diversifying the Revenue Model
The Q4 earnings miss underscores a persistent concern: Robinhood’s heavy reliance on transaction-based revenue, particularly from crypto trading. The company is working to diversify on multiple fronts.
Sponsored
Sponsored
Staking, launched in the US in 2025, has reached approximately $1 billion in staked assets. The Robinhood Chain itself is intended to generate new forms of infrastructure-driven revenue over time.
On the trading side, Robinhood has invested in advanced tools to attract high-frequency and high-volume traders — a segment that provides a more stable revenue baseline even in softer markets, according to Kerbrat. The company also expanded its fee tiers from three to seven, with rates as low as 0.03% for high-volume traders.
The institutional channel is also growing. Bitstamp’s crypto-as-a-service offering lets banks, hedge funds, and family offices provide their clients with access to crypto. Kerbrat noted that institutions tend to enter the market during downturns, providing a countercyclical buffer.
Meanwhile, prediction markets have emerged as a bright spot. CEO Vlad Tenev said at a company event in December that prediction markets are Robinhood’s “fastest-growing product line by revenue ever,” with 11 billion contracts traded by more than one million customers.
What’s Next
The public testnet is the first phase of a multi-step rollout. Robinhood plans to migrate its existing stock token products to the chain before eventually transitioning to the mainnet. No specific timeline for the mainnet launch has been disclosed.
“Our vision hasn’t changed: we are building the financial superapp,” Tenev said in the company’s Q4 earnings statement.
Source: https://beincrypto.com/robinhood-launches-public-testnet/
