Robinhood Chain’s early activity appears to be driven largely by external crypto traders rather than users coming directly through Robinhood Wallet, according to an analysis by ARK Invest research director Lorenzo Valente.
Valente found that less than 1% of the transactions he analyzed passed through the 0x Settler contract, which he identified as the clearest route associated with Robinhood Wallet swaps. After accounting for unidentified contracts, he estimated that Robinhood-linked activity could potentially represent around 5% of the transactions.
Much of the remaining identifiable activity came through platforms such as GMGN and OKX. Both provide traders with tools for accessing onchain markets, meaning users can interact with Robinhood Chain without entering the ecosystem through Robinhood Wallet.
Valente said the transaction patterns resembled activity from crypto-native traders already active on other networks. His analysis therefore suggests that much of Robinhood Chain’s early usage may be coming from existing onchain participants rather than a large influx of new users introduced through Robinhood’s customer base.
However, assigning transactions to specific users or platforms through public blockchain data has limitations. Wallets can interact with aggregators, automated systems and unidentified contracts, making it difficult to determine the original source of every transaction.
Robinhood Chain is an open Ethereum Layer 2 built using Arbitrum technology, allowing external wallets, trading applications and developers to interact with the network. As a result, overall transaction counts and decentralized exchange activity cannot automatically be treated as Robinhood customer activity.
The distinction is important because Robinhood Chain has recorded substantial activity since its July 1 mainnet launch. External applications, particularly GMGN and other crypto trading platforms, have accounted for a significant portion of the network’s early activity and fees.
The network was also designed to support tokenized stocks, real-world assets and decentralized finance. Uniswap processed approximately $1 billion in cumulative tokenized-stock trading volume on Robinhood Chain by Aug. 21, although these products remain unavailable to U.S. investors.
Robinhood continues to maintain a large customer base, reporting 28.4 million funded customers at the end of the second quarter, alongside 29.9 million investment accounts and $369 billion in platform assets. Those figures, however, represent the company’s broader financial and brokerage operations and should not be directly equated with activity on Robinhood Chain.
The early blockchain data therefore provides limited evidence that Robinhood Chain has already brought large numbers of its existing brokerage customers onchain. Future activity from Robinhood Wallet users, growth in tokenized assets and the continued use of outside trading platforms will provide a clearer picture of whether the network can attract new users or primarily serve existing crypto traders.
