Key Takeaways:

• Robinhood launched a public testnet for its new Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain, Robinhood Chain.
• Q4 crypto revenue fell 38% to $221 million, pushing total Q4 revenue below estimates.
• The company is expanding into tokenized assets, blockchain infrastructure, and new financial services beyond trading.

Robinhood Markets Inc., the US-based brokerage known for commission-free trading of stocks and cryptocurrencies, has introduced a public testnet for its new blockchain, Robinhood Chain, while reporting weaker crypto-related revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The test network went live on February 10, 2026, and the rollout comes as the company works to expand deeper into digital assets despite a slowdown in the broader crypto market.

Robinhood Chain built for tokenized assets and faster trading

Robinhood Chain runs as a layer-2 network on Ethereum blockchain, built using technology from Arbitrum, which is another layer-2 atop Ethereum. Layer-2 networks are designed to reduce costs and increase speed by handling operations off the main blockchain while still benefiting from its security. 

Robinhood said the network focuses on tokenized real-world assets, which are digital tokens that represent real-world items like stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and can be traded on blockchain rails.

Developers can now build and test decentralized applications (dApps), including lending apps and other decentralized finance (DeFi) tools, on the testnet. The platform aims to enable self-custody and seamless connections between different blockchain networks.

To power the system, Robinhood has partnered with multiple entities, including Alchemy, a blockchain development platform that provides infrastructure support; Chainlink, a service that supplies real-world data like commodity, stock prices etc. to smart contracts (self-executing programs on blockchains); and LayerZero, a protocol that enables communication between different blockchains. 

The company also committed $1 million to the 2026 Arbitrum Open House program to fund developer initiatives on its testnet and future mainnet.

Johann Kerbrat, senior vice president and general manager of crypto and international at Robinhood, said in the company’s release that the testnet lays the groundwork for ecosystems centered on tokenized real-world assets and broader decentralized finance access. 

Q4 results show crypto revenue drop

On the same day, Robinhood published its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings on its investor site.

For Q4 2025

• Total net revenue for Q4 2025 reached $1.28 billion, up 27% year over year, but below analyst estimates of about $1.34 billion. 
• Cryptocurrency transaction revenue fell 38% to $221 million, reflecting lower crypto trading volumes. Please note that it’s normal for trading volumes to decline during broader market slowdowns.
• The total transaction-based revenue still rose 15% to $776 million, helped by a 41% jump in options trading revenue to $314 million and a 54% increase in equities trading to $94 million. Options are time-bound contracts for betting on the future prices of assets, with optional execution.
• Net income for the quarter was $605 million, down 34% from $916 million a year earlier. 
• The earnings per share came in at $0.66, slightly above expectations of $0.63.

For the full year 2025

• Robinhood reported $4.5 billion in net revenue, up 52%, and $1.9 billion in net income, up 35% for the year 2025.
• Funded customers (people with a positive account balance on Robinhood) grew to 27 million, a 7% increase.
• Robinhood Gold subscribers climbed 58% to 4.2 million. 

Robinhood’s shares fell about 8% to around $79 in after-hours trading following the report.

Expanding beyond trading

The blockchain push builds on earlier efforts, including tokenizing nearly 2,000 US stocks and ETFs for European users in 2025. These tokenized versions were valued at about $15 million and were created on the Arbitrum blockchain. 

With the new Robinhood Chain, the company aims to support 24/7 crypto trading and faster settlements through crypto wallets on its own network.

CEO Vlad Tenev stated that the company continues working toward becoming a full-service financial platform. Despite softer crypto volumes, $82 billion in Q4 trading, up 3% quarter-over-quarter but lower year over year, the firm is also expanding into areas like prediction markets and retirement accounts, underscoring its broader strategy beyond crypto.