Robinhood Overtakes Base in Tokenized Stock Market Despite Three-Year Head Start
Base's tokenized stock market has been eclipsed by Robinhood Chain, despite having a three-year head start. By September 2026, Base had only $21.7 million in tokenized stock assets under management (AUM) and 92,000 holders, while Robinhood Chain boasted $148.9 million AUM and over 1.13 million holders.
The comparison is striking because Robinhood Chain only launched its mainnet on July 1, 2026, giving it a little more than two months to build momentum. Base creator Jesse Pollak acknowledged in July that the chain's focus on social applications had left it behind in areas like tokenization and derivatives.
Base has a significant distribution advantage through its partnership with Coinbase, which provides a regulated exchange, large customer base, custody infrastructure, deep USDC integration, and a direct route for users to move from centralized accounts to onchain environments. However, the network's product strategy focused on social applications until recently, leaving it behind in tokenized finance.
Base is now catching up with Coinbase's B20 standard, which gives eligible users outside the United States direct economic exposure through self-custodial tokens backed one-to-one by real shares held in regulated custody. The initial market remains small, but Base is looking to developers to create financial applications around programmable equities.