Robinhood’s newly launched Ethereum layer-2 network, Robinhood Chain, has seen over $70 million worth of Ether (ETH) bridged in its first week, igniting fresh debate among founders about whether such networks strengthen or siphon value from Ethereum’s base layer. The chain, which went live on July 1, is built on Arbitrum technology and is fully EVM-compatible. Crucially, it uses ETH as its native gas token, meaning every transaction burns ETH for data storage fees on Ethereum mainnet.
World Network co-founder Leighton Cusack framed the launch as a bullish signal twisted by poor market sentiment. “Ethereum has been so abused for the last two years that even positive news like Robinhood launching an ETH-denominated L2 is portrayed negatively,” he said, adding that “narratives follow price.” Multicoin Capital’s Kyle Samani countered with a long-standing skepticism about L2 value capture — though the exact details of his rebuttal were truncated in early reports.
Data from Token Terminal shows the network rapidly converting liquidity into economic activity. Within the first week, it averaged 194,000 daily active users and reached an annualized revenue run rate of approximately $14 million. DefiLlama reported a total value locked of roughly 46,748 ETH ($83 million), with Thursday alone recording $55 million in inflows. Uniswap founder Hayden Adams noted that ETH dominates as the base trading pair, highest-volume asset, and blockspace-purchasing token, reinforcing demand sinks.
Analysts see the early traction as strongly bullish. Bitrue Research’s Andri Fauzan Adziima called it a “meaningful new demand sink,” while HashKey Group’s Tim Sun highlighted the direct ETH demand generated by bridged assets and on-chain activity. Despite the on-chain hype, however, ETH’s price remained around $1,775 — still down 64% from its 2025 peak — underscoring a persistent divergence between fundamentals and market sentiment.
