The retail brokerage debuted Robinhood Chain on Wednesday, a move that signals the company’s ambitions well beyond its commission-free trading roots.
Robinhood launched the public mainnet of its own blockchain on Wednesday, unveiling a sweeping expansion into decentralized finance (DeFi), AI-driven trading, and global markets that marks one of the most significant strategic pivots in the company’s history.
The announcements were made at “The World Is Flat,” a live keynote event held at the Old Royal Naval College in London—a venue choice that underscored the global ambitions behind the product rollout.
A blockchain of its own
Robinhood Chain is a layer-2 network built on Arbitrum, a technology that processes transactions on top of Ethereum to reduce fees and increase speed. The company describes it as “AI-native and purpose-built for real-world assets,” meaning it is designed specifically to handle financial instruments like tokenized stocks, not just general-purpose crypto activity.
The network launches with integrations from custody provider BitGo, blockchain data oracle Chainlink, and partnerships with decentralized exchange Uniswap for public liquidity and Pleiades for proprietary trading. Alchemy, a blockchain infrastructure provider, is also listed as a day-one partner.
“Decentralized finance unlocks possibilities beyond what traditional finance can offer, but historically, it has required technical expertise to navigate,” said Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s SVP and General Manager of Crypto and International. “We’re bringing the best of traditional finance and DeFi together, and in doing so, expanding financial ownership to every corner of the globe.”
Robinhood Chain mainnet is live.
An AI-native blockchain built to bring real-world assets onchain.
Learn more: https://t.co/NkVXOaADQK pic.twitter.com/lNlYlZm1mn
— Robinhood Crypto (@RobinhoodCrypto) July 1, 2026
Tokenized stocks, with DeFi features attached
Among the headline products is an expanded version of Robinhood’s Stock Tokens—blockchain-based representations of shares in companies like Nvidia and Apple. The tokens are now available in more than 120 jurisdictions through the Robinhood Wallet, though with significant carve-outs: U.S. users are excluded entirely.
What makes the new generation different from Robinhood’s earlier “Classic Stock Tokens,” which are already available in Europe, is the added DeFi functionality. Eligible users outside the U.S. can now deposit their stock tokens into lending pools or use them as collateral to borrow other assets within the broader DeFi ecosystem. This is a common practice with crypto assets, but applying it to tokenized equities is relatively new territory.
It is worth noting that Stock Tokens, per Robinhood’s own disclosures, are “tokenised debt securities” that provide “economic exposure” to underlying stocks without granting any legal ownership rights to the actual shares. That distinction may matter less to yield-seeking users, but it is a meaningful one since regulators in multiple jurisdictions are still working out how such instruments should be classified.
Earn, perps, and AI agents
For U.S. users, Robinhood is rolling out Robinhood Earn, a product that lets eligible customers lend the dollar-backed stablecoin USDG—issued by Global Dollar Network—up to approximately 7% APY. The lending infrastructure runs on Morpho, an onchain lending protocol, through a self-custody wallet. Robinhood says the product includes insurance arranged through Lloyd’s of London and RELM covering cyber and smart contract exploits.
The Robinhood Wallet is also gaining access to decentralized perpetual futures—a type of derivative contract with no expiration date commonly used for leveraged trading—through Lighter, a decentralized exchange. That feature is not available to users in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Singapore, UAE, or Switzerland.
On the AI front, Robinhood is extending its Agentic Trading capability—launched last month for stocks and options—to crypto. The feature lets users connect compatible third-party AI models to a dedicated Robinhood account to scan market data and execute trades automatically. Users set the capital limits and guardrails, while the AI handles execution. The company is quick to note that “humans remain in control,” though Robinhood’s own disclosures acknowledge AI agents “can make errors, misinterpret instructions, act on incomplete or outdated information, and behave in unexpected ways.” Agentic Trading for crypto will roll out to eligible U.S. users at no added cost.
Global push
Wednesday’s event also served as a vehicle for a broader geographic expansion. Robinhood confirmed it is now live in Canada following its acquisition of WonderFi, offering zero trading fees through September 30. Its Singapore entity has secured a capital markets services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, a prerequisite for offering brokerage services there. A UK crypto launch is described as “coming soon.”
European customers also get expanded perpetual futures access, now covering commodities, ETFs, and FX pairs, including gold, silver, crude oil, and EUR/USD, with up to 10x leverage. Crypto perps were already Robinhood’s fastest-growing product in the EU, the company said.
Robinhood built its name on simplifying markets for retail investors who felt locked out by commissions, complex interfaces, and minimum balances. The move into DeFi, tokenized equities, AI agents, and its own blockchain suggests the company believes the next wave of retail participation runs through crypto infrastructure—not just alongside it.
That bet carries real risks since the regulatory landscape for tokenized securities remains unsettled across most jurisdictions. AI trading tools, even with user-set guardrails, introduce new liability questions that courts and regulators have barely begun to address. And the sheer number of products announced Wednesday raises a legitimate question about execution capacity. Rolling out one of these products well is hard. Rolling out all of them at once is even harder.
Robinhood’s history includes a notable stumble during the 2021 meme stock frenzy, when it restricted purchases in GameStop and AMC stock during peak retail demand—a move that drew congressional scrutiny and user backlash.