Robinhood launched its own blockchain, Robinhood Chain, without a proprietary token. Analysts say that is no accident: the network runs on ether for gas fees, which effectively closes the door on a Robinhood coin, at least for now.
Robinhood built an entire blockchain and still didn't launch a token. According to analysts, Robinhood Chain's design — a permissionless Ethereum Layer-2 network built on Arbitrum infrastructure — makes a proprietary token redundant, at least for now.
Ethereum already does the job
The network, which went live on July 1, uses ETH exclusively as its native gas token for transaction fees. It processes transactions the same way Ethereum's mainnet does, an approach that mirrors other Ethereum Layer-2 networks. Coinbase's own Layer-2, Base, similarly runs on ETH rather than issuing a native coin.
Tokenized assets, not a coin, drive the chain
The chain launched with a focus on tokenized real-world assets, including stock tokens representing US equities and ETFs. These tokenized securities are initially available to eligible users in more than 120 countries, with an early emphasis on the EU and EEA. The platform also enables 24/7 trading of the tokenized assets. Uniswap is among the day-one ecosystem partners providing liquidity infrastructure on the chain.
A crowded field feeds ether demand
Robinhood isn't the only company racing to tokenize traditional assets on a blockchain. Coinbase has Base, and BlackRock has been tokenizing money market funds. Still, skipping a native token means Robinhood Chain users don't need to acquire an unfamiliar asset just to pay for transactions — they just need ETH, which is already available on every major exchange and sits in many crypto wallets.
For ether itself, that design choice adds another source of demand. Every transaction on Robinhood Chain requires ETH for gas, so increased usage of the chain translates directly into increased demand for Ethereum's native asset.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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