Robinhood Chain Surges to Near $1B TVL on Memecoin-Equity Flywheel
Robinhood Chain has seen rapid growth since its launch on July 1, with its total value locked (TVL) reaching nearly $1 billion. The platform's daily decentralized exchange (DEX) volume hit $1.88 billion on Sunday, accounting for more than half of all volume on Uniswap, according to StoneX analyst Mark Palmer.
The growth can be attributed to several factors, including Robinhood's strong brand and viral marketing effect, its permissionless design allowing developers to launch tokens freely, subsidized gas fees, and a growing flywheel between memecoins and tokenized stocks. Palmer noted that the chain's traction has been 'impressive by any measure.'
The analyst highlighted four key elements driving Robinhood Chain's growth:
- Rosinhood's brand, including the viral marketing effect of the CASHCAT token after CEO Vlad Tenev followed its account.
- The chain's permissionless design, allowing developers to launch tokens freely. Palmer mentioned that Pons reportedly facilitates 10,000 token launches a day, with approximately 25,000 on September 2.
- Incentive economics, with Robinhood subsidizing gas for wallet swaps above $5.
- The memecoin-equity flywheel, the interaction between memecoins and Robinhood's tokenized stocks. Palmer cited Long.xyz as a prime example of this connection, where community tokens can launch paired with Robinhood's (HOOD) tokenized stocks, creating a mechanism for meme-driven demand to generate activity around the tokenized equities.
The growth has come largely from crypto-native users rather than Robinhood's own app users. CoinDesk Research estimates that Robinhood app users account for only 1%, 2% of Chain transactions, while most activity has come through trading terminals, Uniswap, and launchpads.
Additionally, the stablecoin market cap on Robinhood Chain crossed $1 billion last week. This figure is up about 12% week over week and up 72% over the last month alone. USDG accounts for 67% of the total, with Ethena's USDe behind it at 30%.