Robinhood has launched the public testnet for Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum Layer 2 network built on Arbitrum, which has a total value (TVL) of more than $2.3 billion.
The testnet allows developers to build apps and infrastructure on Robinhood Chain, which the company says is designed to power 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, head of crypto at Robinhood, 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 it will really accelerate the whole development of on-chain financial services and the whole tokenization future that we’ve been talking about [about] for a long time,” Kerbrat told Camila Russo, founder of The Defiant. “So the testnet is really the first step in laying the foundation for an ecosystem that will help define all the tokenized reward assets that we plan to launch.”
This move comes as more financial companies adopt on-chain technology and integrate products directly onto blockchain networks. One area seeing particularly rapid growth is tokenized RWAs. According to data from RWAxyz, the distributed asset value has reached $23.8 billion, up about 11% in the past month.
According to the release, the testnet gives developers access to basic networking tools, documentation, and Ethereum development software built on Arbitrum. Robinhood said some infrastructure providers are already connecting to the network, and more are expected to join as testing continues.
Developers will also gain access to testnet-only assets in the coming months, including stock tokens, along with instant testing through Robinhood Wallet.
Kerbrat described Robinhood Chain as permissionless, meaning anyone can deploy applications. However, apps that appear in the Robinhood app still must meet internal product requirements, he said.
Robinhood also plans to be one of the first big builders on the network, Kerbrat said, and eventually 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 slowly have the entire Robinhood infrastructure replaced by the blockchain.”
Kerbrat revealed that early partners involved in the launch include Alchemy, LayerZero and others, who are helping to support the first phase of the public testnet.
“But the more we continue to build, the more we will also launch our own products, which will either be in partnership or a product directly generated by the revenue,” he added. “But I think the idea for us is that it’s not just a revenue chain, but also something that other developers can actually build on top of.”
Robinhood has already rolled out tokenized stock products in Europe, with offerings rapidly expanding. Kerbrat said they have grown from about 200 assets at launch last June to about 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 from there we can really use this engine for anything.”