Robinhood launched a public testnet for Robinhood Chain on February 11, 2026, its Ethereum layer-2 network built on Arbitrum technology and engineered to bring tokenized real-world and digital assets onchain.

The testnet is live for developers at docs.chain.robinhood.com. It provides network access points, documentation and compatibility with standard Ethereum development tools. Four firms — Alchemy, Allium, LayerZero and TRM — are already building on the testnet, according to infrastructure partner integrations shared with Cointelegraph.

What is Robinhood building the chain for?

Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood's senior vice president and general manager of Crypto and International, told Cointelegraph the chain is designed for "financial-grade" workloads. They include:

• 24/7 trading of tokenized instruments
• Self-custody of user assets
• Cross-chain bridging
• Decentralized finance protocols including lending markets and perpetual futures exchanges
• Tokenized asset platforms operating within the broader Ethereum ecosystem

Kerbrat said the company was "looking to build the safest on-ramp to not just the crypto economy, but the entire financial system." By embedding speed and near-zero fees into the architecture, he said, "we can do things others can't, like actively offering new financial instruments."

He confirmed there are "no plans to share for a native token" at this stage. "We look forward to connecting with more" infrastructure partners, he added.

How does this fit Robinhood's tokenization strategy?

The launch marks a deeper shift by Robinhood from a retail crypto broker into an onchain infrastructure operator. Earlier, the firm tokenized nearly 500 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds on Arbitrum as part of a broader real-world asset rollout.

Kerbrat framed the chain as "dissolving the barrier" between onchain and offchain finance. "Just like with our Stock Tokens trading product in the EU, the goal is for the tech to be invisible," he said. Testnet-only stock-style tokens and tighter integration with Robinhood Wallet are expected in the coming months, with a mainnet rollout planned for later this year.

Who else is running a similar exchange-plus-chain playbook?

Robinhood's strategy mirrors a broader pattern of crypto venues seeking to control the user-facing interface and the underlying rails:

• Coinbase operates a regulated U.S. trading platform while running its Base L2; the exchange announced the start of its tokenized equities rollout in December 2025.
• Kraken runs a global crypto exchange while developing Ink, its own Optimism-based L2, alongside the xStocks tokenized equities product.

What regulatory headwinds does Robinhood still face?

Robinhood continues to attract criticism over equity system outages during periods of market stress and its reliance on payment for order flow, the practice in which market-making firms pay brokers to route retail customer orders in exchange for rebates.

CEO Vlad Tenev argued in January 2026 that tokenized stocks could mitigate trading freezes thanks to the real-time settlement properties of blockchain technology.

What's next?

With four infrastructure partners live and a native token explicitly off the table, Robinhood now heads into a mainnet window later this year that will test whether its Arbitrum-based L2 can capture tokenized-asset liquidity against incumbents including Coinbase's Base and Kraken's Ink.