Robinhood has launched the public testnet for Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum Layer 2 network built on Arbitrum, which has a total value locked (TVL) of over $2.3 billion.
The testnet enables developers to start building apps and infrastructure on Robinhood Chain, which the company said is designed to support tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), lending platforms, perpetual futures exchanges, and other on-chain financial services, according to a press release viewed by The Defiant.
Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s head of crypto, said in an exclusive interview with The Defiant that the testnet is an early step toward building a broader on-chain financial ecosystem.
“We think that it’s really going to accelerate all the development of on-chain financial services and all this tokenization future that we’ve been talking [about] for a long time,” Kerbrat told Camila Russo, founder of The Defiant. “So the testnet is really the first step to lay down the groundwork for an ecosystem that will help define all the tokenized reward assets that we’re planning on launching.”
The move comes as more financial firms adopt on-chain technology and begin integrating products directly on blockchain networks. One area seeing especially fast growth is tokenized RWAs. Distributed Asset Value has reached $23.8 billion, up about 11% over the past month, according to RWAxyz data.
According to the release, the testnet gives developers access to basic network tools, documentation, and Ethereum development software built on Arbitrum. Robinhood said some infrastructure providers are already connecting to the network, with more expected to join as testing continues.
Developers will also gain access to testnet-only assets, including stock tokens, along with direct testing through Robinhood Wallet in the coming months.
Kerbrat described Robinhood Chain as permissionless, meaning anyone can deploy applications. However, apps that appear inside the Robinhood app would still need to meet internal product requirements, he said.
Robinhood also plans to be one of the first major builders on the network, Kerbrat said, and ultimately wants to move more of its own infrastructure on-chain.
“The first developer to build on the chain is really going to be Robinhood,” he said. “And our vision is not just to have one or two products there, but to have the entire Robinhood infrastructure to be slowly replaced by the blockchain.”
Kerbrat revealed that early partners involved in the launch include Alchemy, LayerZero, and others, which are helping support the first phase of the public testnet.
“But the more we continue to build, the more we’re going to also launch our own products that are going to be either in partnership or directly revenue-made product,” he added. “But I think for us, the idea is that it’s not just a revenue chain only, but also something that other developers can actually build on top of.”
Robinhood has already rolled out tokenized stock products in Europe, with the offerings expanding quickly – Kerbrat said they grew from about 200 assets at launch last June to roughly 2,000 today.
“So we [grew] 10x in less than a year. And that really shows how flexible our tokenization engine is,” Kerbrat said. “And we think that coming from there, we are really going to be able to use this engine for anything.”
