Build on Robinhood Chain: The Tokenized Asset Opportunity

Robinhood Chain is a new Ethereum based Layer 2 built around one of Web3’s biggest opportunities: tokenized real world assets.

The network launched its public mainnet on July 1, 2026, alongside Robinhood’s plans for tokenized stocks, lending products, and other blockchain based financial services. While the chain is still early, its initial traction is already attracting attention. According to the data shown on DeFiLlama, Robinhood Chain ranked second among tracked networks by application revenue over 24 hours, generating $2.66 million. It ranked ahead of established networks including Hyperliquid, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, and Base.

The network has also recorded a sharp increase in total value locked, with the chart showing TVL approaching $800 million. These figures do not prove that Robinhood Chain will become a dominant blockchain, but they do show that demand is forming around its ecosystem and tokenized asset strategy.

For developers, the opportunity is not only about what Robinhood Chain is. It is about what can be built on top of a network combining Ethereum compatibility, growing liquidity, and access to onchain financial data.

That means connecting to an RPC endpoint, reading blockchain state, submitting transactions, and subscribing to events as they happen.

What Is Robinhood Chain?

Robinhood Chain is an Ethereum Layer 2 built with Arbitrum technology. It is intended to provide infrastructure for tokenized stocks and other onchain financial products while maintaining compatibility with Ethereum development tools.

Because it is EVM compatible, developers can use familiar tools such as Solidity, ethers.js, viem, Hardhat, and Foundry. Existing smart contract patterns can also be adapted for the network, although every deployment should still be tested against Robinhood Chain’s specific configuration.

The network’s initial focus is tokenized real world assets. Robinhood has described Stock Tokens as blockchain based representations that can trade around the clock for eligible users, subject to availability and regional restrictions.

This creates opportunities beyond simple token transfers. Developers can build portfolio applications, asset trackers, trading interfaces, analytics tools, wallet features, and DeFi products that use Robinhood Chain data.

The early revenue and TVL figures suggest that this is no longer only a future facing narrative. Robinhood Chain is beginning to develop measurable onchain activity, giving builders a reason to start exploring its infrastructure now.

What is a Robinhood Chain RPC endpoint?

An RPC endpoint is the connection between an application and the blockchain.

Through JSON RPC, an application can request information such as:

eth_blockNumber
eth_getBlockByNumber
eth_getTransactionByHash
eth_getBalance
eth_call
eth_getLogs
eth_sendRawTransaction


These methods allow your application to read balances, inspect transactions, call smart contracts, search event logs, and submit signed transactions.

For example, a basic request for the latest block might look like this:

‍The endpoint returns the latest block number in hexadecimal format. From there, your application can fetch the block itself or use the number to monitor new activity.

Connecting to Robinhood Chain with Tatum

Tatum provides Robinhood Chain access through its RPC Gateway, with support for both mainnet and testnet connections. The gateway can be used with standard JSON RPC requests, while WebSockets are useful for applications that need live blockchain updates.

A JavaScript application using ethers.js could connect like this:

import { JsonRpcProvider } from 'ethers'
const provider = new JsonRpcProvider(
  process.env.ROBINHOOD_CHAIN_RPC_URL
)
const blockNumber = await provider.getBlockNumber()
console.log(Latest block: ${blockNumber})

‍For production applications, keep the RPC URL and API credentials on the server side. Do not expose private keys or unrestricted infrastructure credentials in browser code.

You should also add request timeouts, retry handling, structured logging, and rate limit protection. RPC requests can fail because of temporary network conditions, invalid parameters, provider limits, or application errors.

Reading token and contract data

Most Robinhood Chain applications will need to interact with smart contracts.

For an ERC 20 token, your application may need to read the token name, symbol, decimals, balances, and transfer history. Using a contract interface keeps those calls easier to manage:

import { Contract, JsonRpcProvider } from 'ethers'
const provider = new JsonRpcProvider(
  process.env.ROBINHOOD_CHAIN_RPC_URL
)
const token = new Contract(
  process.env.TOKEN_ADDRESS,
  [
    'function name() view returns (string)',
    'function symbol() view returns (string)',
    'function decimals() view returns (uint8)',
    'function balanceOf(address) view returns (uint256)'
  ],
  provider
)
const symbol = await token.symbol()
const decimals = await token.decimals()
const balance = await token.balanceOf(process.env.WALLET_ADDRESS)
console.log({ symbol, decimals, balance })

‍In real applications, token amounts should be converted carefully. Blockchain balances are usually returned as integers measured in the token’s smallest unit. A token with six decimals and a raw balance of 1000000 represents one whole token.

Avoid converting large values to JavaScript floating point numbers. Use the native bigint type or a decimal library designed for financial data.

Connecting to Robinhood Chain With WebSockets

WebSockets provide a persistent connection between an application and Robinhood Chain. Unlike a standard HTTP request, where the client connects, sends a request, and waits for a response, a WebSocket connection remains open so the application can communicate with the network continuously.

This is useful for applications that need low latency access to blockchain data. A trading interface, portfolio dashboard, wallet, or analytics platform can use WebSockets to request updates without repeatedly creating new connections.

With a WebSocket RPC endpoint, developers can:

-Read the latest block as soon as it becomes available

-Retrieve pending or confirmed transaction data

-Request account and contract information

-Subscribe to blockchain data streams

-Power real time dashboards and trading interfaces

A basic connection using ethers.js can look like this:

import { WebSocketProvider } from 'ethers'
const provider = new WebSocketProvider(
  process.env.ROBINHOOD_CHAIN_WS_URL
)
const blockNumber = await provider.getBlockNumber()
console.log(Latest block: ${blockNumber})

The WebSocket endpoint should be stored in an environment variable rather than hardcoded in application code:

ROBINHOOD_CHAIN_WS_URL=wss://your Robinhood Chain websocket endpoint


Applications using WebSockets should also account for connection failures. Network interruptions, provider timeouts, and deployment issues can terminate an active connection, so production systems should implement reconnection logic, connection health checks, and graceful shutdown handling.

For developers building on Robinhood Chain, WebSockets offer a more responsive way to access network data than repeatedly polling an HTTP endpoint. They are especially useful when an application needs timely blockchain information while keeping communication with the RPC infrastructure efficient.

Building applications on Robinhood Chain

Robinhood Chain’s early activity makes it relevant for several types of Web3 applications. A wallet can use RPC calls to retrieve balances, estimate gas, and submit signed transactions. A portfolio tracker can index token balances and transfers. A trading application can read contract activity and display current positions, while an analytics service can process blocks and logs to identify volume, liquidity, and user activity.

The network’s early application revenue also suggests that these use cases are already attracting meaningful activity. On August 31, 2026, Robinhood Chain generated $2.66 million in application revenue over a 24 hour period, ranking ahead of Ethereum at $1.27 million, Hyperliquid at $1.7 million, and Base at $438,436.

However, the activity was concentrated across a small number of protocols. GMGN generated approximately $1.11 million, Pons generated $930,587, and Uniswap generated $306,877. Together, these three protocols accounted for about $2.35 million, or 88% of Robinhood Chain’s total application revenue.

For developers, this concentration is important context. It shows strong early demand for trading and DeFi applications, but it also means the ecosystem is still developing beyond a limited group of high activity protocols. Builders may find opportunities in supporting infrastructure such as wallets, portfolio tools, market data services, risk dashboards, and applications that make tokenized assets easier to access and understand.

Developers working with tokenized assets should also consider data quality and compliance requirements. Onchain data may show ownership or transfer activity, but it does not automatically provide complete information about the underlying asset, legal rights, geographic availability, or user eligibility. The revenue figures show ecosystem activity, not necessarily broad adoption of every tokenized asset use case.

That distinction matters when designing product logic and user interfaces. Applications should clearly separate blockchain data from offchain asset information, and avoid treating an onchain balance as a complete representation of a user’s legal or economic rights.

As of August 31st, 2026*

Practical considerations for production

Start by separating read and write operations. Public blockchain reads can often be cached, while transaction submission requires stricter controls and clearer error handling.

Index important events instead of repeatedly querying the entire chain. Store processed block ranges and use database indexes for wallet addresses, contract addresses, transaction hashes, and event topics.

Use confirmations appropriate to your application. A portfolio display may update after a transaction is included in a block, while a financial settlement flow may require additional confirmation checks.

Finally, test against Robinhood Chain testnet before deploying contracts or handling real assets. Verify chain identifiers, contract addresses, gas behavior, event formats, and failure cases in an environment that matches production as closely as possible.

Final thoughts

Robinhood Chain gives developers another EVM compatible environment for building applications around tokenized assets and onchain finance.

The technical workflow is familiar: connect through RPC, read blockchain state, call contracts, monitor events, and submit signed transactions. The main challenge is building reliable application logic around those primitives.

With access to Robinhood Chain mainnet and testnet through Tatum’s RPC Gateway, developers can focus on the application layer while still using standard Ethereum tooling and interfaces.