Robinhood has suddenly become one of the loudest names in crypto again, and this time it is not just because of stock trading or retail speculation. In early July, the company launched Robinhood Chain, an Arbitrum-based Layer 2 built around tokenized real-world assets, DeFi apps, and broader on-chain finance. The idea is simple but powerful: bring stocks, ETFs, crypto, lending, collateral, and eventually AI-powered trading closer together inside one familiar retail ecosystem.

Robinhood is not a small DeFi startup trying to find users. It already has a massive mainstream user base, a recognizable brand, and a history of pulling retail traders into new market…