Robinhood (HOOD) rolls out public blockchain as it expands deeper into crypto

The launch comes as Robinhood expands beyond its brokerage roots into crypto, tokenized assets and AI-powered trading, underscoring how the line between traditional finance and blockchain-based finance continues to blur. Robinhood (HOOD) officially launched the public mainnet for Robinhood Chain, marking the company's biggest step yet into onchain financial infrastructure as it looks to expand beyond brokerage services and into decentralized finance. Announced during a Wednesday event in London, Robinhood Chain is a layer-2 blockchain built on Arbitrum (ARB) and designed for tokenized real-world assets and decentralized finance applications. The launch comes about four months after Robinhood began testing the network on testnet. With the launch of the public mainnet, Robinhood's tokenized stock products are now also fully live. Stock Tokens are available through Robinhood Wallet in more than 120 countries, although availability varies by jurisdiction. The company said the goal is to allow users to trade tokenized equities around the clock and use them across decentralized finance applications, including lending protocols and as trading collateral. Robinhood also introduced Robinhood Earn, a decentralized lending product that allows users to lend USDG, the company's dollar-backed stablecoin, through a self-custody wallet. The product offers an estimated annual percentage yield of 7%.