Robinhood is going deeper into crypto infrastructure.

 

The company has launched the public testnet for Robinhood Chain, its own Ethereum layer 2 network built on Arbitrum’s rollup technology. Until now, Robinhood has mostly acted as a gateway, letting users trade crypto and, in some regions, tokenized equities. This move changes that. It is now building the underlying blockchain where those assets could live.

 

It is a meaningful shift. Running a brokerage app is one thing. Operating blockchain infrastructure is another.

 

 

What Robinhood Chain Actually Is

Robinhood Chain is a permissionless Ethereum layer 2. It uses Arbitrum’s technology, which means it inherits Ethereum’s security while offering lower transaction costs and higher throughput through rollups.

 

“With Arbitrum’s developer-friendly technology, Robinhood Chain is well-positioned to help the industry deliver the next chapter of tokenization and permissionless financial services,” said Steven Goldfeder, Co-Founder and CEO of Offchain Labs. “Working alongside the Robinhood team, we are excited to help build the next stage of finance.”

 

For developers, it is EVM compatible. Smart contracts built for Ethereum can be deployed here with standard tooling. Wallets, developer libraries, and infrastructure services should feel familiar.

 

On paper, nothing radical. The differentiation is not in the virtual machine. It is in the intended use case.

 

 

The Core Bet: Tokenized Stocks

Robinhood is clearly focused on tokenized real world assets, especially public equities and ETFs.

 

The company has already offered tokenized stock exposure in Europe. Now it is building infrastructure that could support broader issuance and trading of these assets directly onchain.

 

A big part of the pitch is continuous trading. Crypto markets operate 24 7. Traditional stock exchanges do not. If equities are represented as tokens on a blockchain, they can, in theory, trade at any time and settle much faster than traditional systems.

 

That sounds straightforward. In practice, it depends heavily on regulatory clarity. Tokenized securities raise questions around custody, investor protections, and jurisdictional restrictions. Robinhood has acknowledged this and appears to be designing the chain with compliance in mind.

 

 

Compliance Is Not an Afterthought

Unlike many general purpose layer 2 networks, Robinhood Chain is being built with regulated financial products as the primary target.

 

That means infrastructure that can handle minting and burning of tokenized securities in a controlled way. It likely also means features that support jurisdiction based restrictions and other compliance requirements at the protocol or system level.

 

Robinhood has not framed this as a purely decentralized experiment. It is positioning the network as financial infrastructure, with guardrails.

 

That will appeal to some institutions. It may frustrate parts of the crypto community. Both reactions are predictable.

 

 

Infrastructure Partners in Place

Robinhood is not building this alone.

 

Chainlink is involved to provide oracle services, which are essential if you are dealing with tokenized stocks that need accurate real world price feeds. Alchemy is supporting developer infrastructure. Other analytics and compliance firms are integrated from the outset.

 

This is not a bare bones testnet thrown into the wild. It is being launched with a fairly complete infrastructure stack.

 

The company is also rolling out developer documentation and encouraging builders to start experimenting immediately.

 

 

The Exchange Layer 2 Trend

Robinhood joins a growing list of exchanges and fintech firms launching their own Ethereum layer 2 networks.

 

Coinbase operates Base. Kraken is developing its own network. Other trading platforms are exploring similar strategies.

 

The rationale is not complicated. If tokenized assets and onchain trading grow, exchanges would prefer that activity to happen on networks they influence, rather than on third party chains. Controlling infrastructure can mean more flexibility in product design, fee structures, and integration with existing platforms.

 

For Robinhood, which already serves millions of retail users, owning a layer 2 could tighten the loop between its app, its wallet, and onchain markets.

 

 

Testnet Today, Mainnet Later

Right now, Robinhood Chain is in public testnet. Developers can deploy contracts, test integrations, and experiment with wallet flows, including direct testing with Robinhood Wallet. No production assets are live yet.

 

To drive activity, Robinhood is backing developer engagement with hackathons and incentives, including a seven figure prize pool aimed at financial applications built on the network.

 

A mainnet launch is expected later this year, though exact timing has not been pinned down publicly. Technical stability and regulatory comfort will likely dictate the pace.

 

 

The Bottom Line

Robinhood Chain is a signal that tokenized finance is not just a side project for major platforms anymore.

 

If tokenized equities become widely accepted, infrastructure will matter as much as distribution. Robinhood already has distribution through its app. Now it is trying to build the rails underneath.

 

There are open questions. Will regulators in the US allow meaningful onchain trading of tokenized securities? Will liquidity concentrate on exchange backed layer 2s or on more neutral networks? Will users care which chain their tokenized stock sits on?

 

For now, Robinhood has made its position clear. It wants to be more than a broker. It wants to operate the blockchain layer where digital versions of traditional assets trade and settle.

 

The testnet is the first real step in that direction.

Optimism Weighs OP Token Buybacks Using Half of Superchain Revenue

 

Optimism is considering a significant shift in how value flows back to its native token holders.

A new governance proposal would allocate 50 percent of all Superchain revenue toward regular buybacks of the OP token, marking one of the clearest attempts yet by a major Layer 2 ecosystem to directly link token economics with real network revenue.

If approved, the buybacks would begin as early as February and would be funded through sequencer fees generated across the Superchain, Optimism’s growing network of OP Stack based chains. The remaining revenue would continue to support protocol development, public goods funding, and ecosystem operations.

The proposal reflects a broader debate playing out across crypto: how networks should balance reinvestment with returning value to token holders.

 

Tying OP Closer to Network Activity

Optimism’s Superchain model pools revenue from multiple Layer 2 networks that use the OP Stack. These chains contribute a portion of their sequencer fees into a shared system, creating a steady revenue stream tied directly to transaction activity.

Under the new plan, half of that revenue would be used to purchase OP tokens on the open market. Those tokens would then be held by the Optimism treasury, where governance could later decide whether to burn them, redistribute them, or use them for future incentives.

Supporters of the proposal argue that buybacks would strengthen the relationship between Superchain usage and demand for OP. As more chains join the ecosystem and activity grows, buyback volumes could rise alongside revenue.

It is a notable shift for a project that has historically emphasized governance participation and public goods funding over direct token value capture.

 

A Strategic Pivot for the Superchain

Optimism has spent the past year expanding the Superchain, with more networks adopting the OP Stack and contributing fees back to the collective. That growth has made revenue allocation a more pressing question. Optimism shared that it has collected 5,868 ETH in revenue from the Superchain, all of which has flowed into a token-governed treasury.

Rather than committing all proceeds to grants or long term development, the Foundation appears to be signaling that token holders should benefit more directly from the ecosystem’s success.

At the same time, the proposal stops short of mandating token burns or fixed distributions. By returning bought tokens to the treasury, Optimism preserves flexibility while still introducing a market facing mechanism tied to revenue.

 

Governance Decision Ahead

Under the proposal, which is expected to go to a governance vote on January 22, Optimism would begin monthly OP token buybacks as early as February. The purchases would be funded by sequencer fee revenue generated across OP Stack based networks, including Coinbase’s Base, Uniswap’s Unichain, World’s World Chain, Sony’s Soneium, and other Superchain members.

Approval would make Optimism one of the more prominent Ethereum scaling projects to formalize buybacks as part of its economic model.

Whether the plan passes or not, the discussion highlights a shift in tone across crypto infrastructure projects. As networks mature and generate meaningful revenue, questions around sustainability, incentives, and value capture are becoming harder to avoid.

 

For Optimism, the vote could shape how the Superchain evolves from a technical scaling solution into a fully self sustaining economic system.

 

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Ethereum’s Fusaka Upgrade: A Critical Step Toward True Scalability

Ethereum is preparing for one of its most important upgrades in years. The Fusaka hard fork, officially scheduled for December 3, 2025, is designed to improve scalability, lower transaction costs, and strengthen support for layer 2 rollups. In a year defined by record network usage, rising global adoption, and increasing competition among blockchains, Fusaka represents a meaningful step toward Ethereum’s long-term vision as a scalable, decentralized world computer.

This upgrade is not a small patch. It integrates improvements across data availability, block capacity, gas economics, and validator efficiency. With Fusaka coming only months after a significant earlier update, Ethereum developers are clearly pushing hard to meet growing demand and prepare the network for its next phase of growth.

 

What Fusaka Introduces

Fusaka delivers a bundle of Ethereum Improvement Proposals focused on two primary goals: lowering the cost of data availability for layer 2 rollups and improving network throughput. At the center of the upgrade is a major new feature called PeerDAS, or Peer Data Availability Sampling.

PeerDAS: Foundational to Ethereum’s Scaling Vision

PeerDAS allows validators to verify data blobs by sampling only parts of the data instead of downloading the entire blob. This dramatically reduces bandwidth requirements and storage costs for validators. As a result, layer 2 networks can publish more data to Ethereum at a lower cost, which ultimately means cheaper and faster transactions for users.

PeerDAS is a core component of Ethereum’s long-term scaling strategy. Instead of increasing block size in ways that may centralize the network, Ethereum is increasing throughput through smarter and more efficient data verification.

Higher Block Gas Limit

Ahead of Fusaka, the block gas limit has been increased to 60 million. This allows more computational work per block, which helps handle higher transaction volumes. It also prepares the network for the increased activity expected from growing layer 2 ecosystems.

Blob Parameter Only Forks

Fusaka introduces a new mechanism that allows Ethereum to gradually increase blob capacity without requiring massive, coordinated hard forks. This flexibility gives developers the ability to scale blob data availability as demand from rollups increases. It is a more responsive and modern approach to protocol upgrades.

Gas Cost and Opcode Optimization

The upgrade also includes refinements to gas costs and opcode behavior. These changes improve smart contract efficiency, reduce unnecessary overhead, and create a more predictable environment for developers building large-scale applications.

 

Why Fusaka Matters

More Sustainable Layer 2 Growth

Layer 2 networks are already driving the majority of Ethereum’s user activity. However, their economics depend heavily on blob costs and data publishing efficiency. Fusaka directly supports this growth by lowering data availability costs and improving the performance of rollups.

For users, this could translate to lower fees and smoother experiences across DeFi, gaming, on-chain social networks, and other decentralized applications.

Reduced Congestion and Lower Fees

Ethereum has sometimes struggled with network congestion during peak periods, resulting in high gas fees. The combination of higher block gas limits, improved data handling, and optimized computation can help reduce these spikes. Fusaka does not eliminate gas fees entirely, but it makes the network more efficient and resilient under stress.

Future-Proofing Ethereum

Fusaka is designed as part of Ethereum’s larger “Surge” roadmap, which aims to scale the network to thousands of transactions per second without sacrificing decentralization. By improving both layer 1 and layer 2 performance, Fusaka builds the foundation for the next decade of Ethereum growth.

Improved Developer and Validator Experience

Optimizations in Fusaka reduce the burden on validators, make node operations more efficient, and help smart contract developers build more scalable applications. By lowering technical barriers and improving performance, the upgrade strengthens Ethereum’s long-term decentralization.

 

Community and Developer Readiness

Ethereum developers have tested Fusaka across multiple testnets, and client teams have signaled readiness for activation. The increase in block gas limits and smooth rollout of test configurations suggest strong coordination between developers, infrastructure teams, and validators.

Early analytics show rising activity on layer 2 networks, growing demand for blob space, and expanding multi-chain connectivity. These trends indicate that Fusaka is arriving at a crucial moment.

 

Risks and Considerations

Fusaka brings meaningful benefits, but there are challenges to consider.

• Large upgrades carry technical and synchronization risks for nodes and validators.

• Adoption by layer 2 networks may require additional time after Fusaka activates.

• High demand may still outpace capacity upgrades until additional improvements go live.

• Competing chains with aggressive scaling strategies may continue to pressure Ethereum.

Careful coordination among the ecosystem’s stakeholders will be essential to ensure a smooth transition.

 

What Fusaka Means for Ethereum’s Future

For users, Fusaka promises lower costs, improved performance, and a better on-chain experience. For developers, it offers stronger infrastructure and greater room to innovate without hitting scalability bottlenecks. For investors, it represents a tangible step toward long-term network maturity.

Ethereum’s evolution has always focused on gradual, sustainable progress rather than risky shortcuts. Fusaka embodies that philosophy. It improves the network in practical, meaningful ways, without compromising decentralization or security.

 

If successful, Fusaka may be remembered as the upgrade that unlocked Ethereum’s next growth cycle and cemented its position as the dominant platform for decentralized applications.

 

Stay Connected

You can stay up to date on all News, Events, and Marketing of Rare Network, including Rare Evo: America’s Premier Blockchain Conference, happening  July 28th-31st, 2026 at The ARIA Resort & Casino, by following our socials on X, LinkedIn, and YouTube.