Robinhood Chain tops $1 billion in DEX volume in first week

Robinhood’s new blockchain is drawing heavy early use, with company executives pointing to more than $1 billion in decentralized exchange volume during its first week. For everyday investors, the key takeaway is that Robinhood is pushing deeper into crypto infrastructure, not just offering coins inside a trading app.

Robinhood Chain is powered by Arbitrum, a blockchain network built to process transactions more cheaply and quickly than Ethereum’s main network. The chain processed $568 million in trading volume on Wednesday and more than $350 million by Thursday, according to figures cited in Decrypt’s Morning Minute newsletter.

Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s crypto general manager, said on X that Robinhood Chain had logged more than 17 million transactions in just over a week. He also said the network had nearly 350,000 total addresses, nearly $250 million in protocol TVL, and more than $1 billion in DEX volume.

TVL, or total value locked, measures the value of assets deposited in blockchain-based protocols. DEX volume refers to trading that happens through decentralized exchanges, where users trade tokens through software rather than a traditional broker or exchange order book.

The short version: activity is arriving quickly. Decrypt reported that Robinhood Chain had more than 5.2 million transactions and 213,000 active addresses over a 24-hour stretch. Active addresses are wallet addresses that send or receive transactions, and they are often used as a rough gauge of network usage.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev amplified Kerbrat’s post on X, writing, “Robinhood Summer is here.” That message fits with Robinhood’s broader attempt to make crypto feel closer to its core brokerage business, where the company already has a large base of retail users.

Memecoins and market activity follow

The early traffic was not limited to basic transfers. Decrypt’s Morning Minute said Robinhood Chain-linked meme tokens moved sharply, with Cashcat up 80% and several other tokens rising more than 200%.

Meme tokens are cryptocurrencies driven largely by online attention, branding, and short-term trading demand rather than traditional business fundamentals. Moves of that size can attract attention quickly, but they can also reverse quickly because liquidity and sentiment often matter more than cash flow or earnings.

The broader crypto market was firmer at the same time. Decrypt’s Morning Minute said major crypto assets rebounded about 3% across the board, with Bitcoin around $64,300. Decrypt price data listed Bitcoin near $63,977, Ether at $1,824.48, Solana at $77.42, and BNB at $577.28.

Other crypto headlines added to the active backdrop. Decrypt’s Morning Minute said Circle received approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter, with CRCL up 10%. It also said a new draft of the Clarity Act could arrive next week and that Polymarket is seeking regulatory approval to offer margin trading.

For Robinhood, the first-week numbers give the company a visible foothold in blockchain activity beyond app-based trading. The open question for investors is whether this early burst turns into durable usage after the launch period, especially once token incentives, novelty, and meme-token speculation settle down.

This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.