Robinhood Chain Goes Public: What the New Ethereum Layer-2 Testnet Means
Robinhood, the popular U.S.-based trading platform, has launched the public testnet for its own blockchain. It is available for developers to build and stress-test dApps in an EVM-compatible environment optimized for RWAs.
What is Robinhood?
Robinhood Markets, Inc. is a commission-free financial services app designed to enable users to trade securities, including stocks, options, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and cryptocurrencies without paying commissions or fees. It is available on iOS, Android, and the web.
About Public Testnet for Robinhood Chain
Robinhood has launched the public testnet for Robinhood, an Ethereum Layer 2 built on Arbitrum, on February 10, 2026. It is designed to facilitate the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), such as stocks and ETFs. They will be integrated into the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
According to the company’s official release, the testnet is live for developers, offering network access points, documentation at docs.chain.robinhood.com, compatibility with standard Ethereum development tools, and early integrations from infrastructure partners.
It allows early experimentation, identification of potential issues, improving network stability, and building a foundation for developers ahead of the upcoming mainnet launch.
The company says the chain is built for ‘financial-grade’ use cases, such as 24/7 trading, seamless bridging, self-custody, decentralized products, including tokenized asset platforms, lending markets, and perpetual futures exchanges. Early integrations are also available with major providers, such as Alchemy, Chainlink, LayerZero, and TRM, to handle data, interoperability, and compliance.
Robinhood has allocated $1 million to the 2026 Arbitrum Open House program to support developers building on the new network. It will participate in four global online Buildathons across New York City, London, Dubai, and Singapore, as well as two in-person Founder Hoses in New York City and London.
About Testnet Development
Robinhood Chain is built on the Arbitrum technology to provide reliability, security, and compliance. It supports effortless bridging and self-custody, ensuring scalability and customization to develop financial-grade decentralized products, which include tokenized asset platforms, lending platforms, and futures exchanges.
In the upcoming months, developers building on Robinhood Chain can access:
- Testnet-only assets, including Stock Tokens, to be used for integration testing
- Direct testing with Robinhood Wallet
- A familiar developer environment on Ethereum and the Arbitrum ecosystem
“With Arbitrum’s developer-friendly technology, Robinhood Chain is well-positioned to help the industry deliver the next chapter of tokenization and permissionless financial services,” said Steven Goldfeder, Co-Founder and CEO of Offchain Labs. “Working alongside the Robinhood team, we are excited to help build the next stage of finance.”
Robinhood’s push towards tokenization
This launch marks a paradigm shift for Robinhood from a crypto trading platform to operating its own on-chain infrastructure, becoming a global financial infrastructure provider. It can now tokenize nearly 500 United States stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Arbitrum to program the use of real-world assets.
Robinhood is also moving in the same direction as major exchanges, trying to control both the user-facing interface and the underlying on-chain rails. For example, Coinbase has officially transitioned into a multi-asset exchange, successfully integrating traditional stock trading with its Base Layer-2 blockchain.
Kraken is also following a similar trend, aiming to operate a global crypto exchange while developing Ink, its own Optimism-based L2 network, alongside xStocks tokenized equities.
Mixed Market Response
The Robinhood Chain testnet announcement was received with strategic optimism in the crypto market and quick selling pressure from equity investors. Although the project brings a major change for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, Robinhood (HOOD) shares fell from roughly 8% to 9% in post-market trading. It is important to keep an eye on how quickly developers and users adopt Robinhood Chain. The second thing is that the revenue mix between options, equities, crypto, and prediction markets would work together. The third is the regulatory clarity on prediction markets and tokenized real-world assets in the UK, US, and Europe, which would support the new model.