---
title: 'Why Robinhood launched its own blockchain'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=s9_IQUx_QW4'
video_id: 's9_IQUx_QW4'
date: 2026-08-01
duration_sec: 892
---

# Why Robinhood launched its own blockchain

> Source: [Why Robinhood launched its own blockchain](https://youtube.com/watch?v=s9_IQUx_QW4)

## Summary

Robinhood's SVP of Crypto, Johan Kerbrat, joins Scott Melker to break down the explosive launch of Robinhood Chain — 95 million transactions and $450 million in TVL in its first three weeks. He explains how the company is packaging DeFi yields, tokenized stocks, and AI agents into its main app to bring crypto to the mainstream.

### Key Points

- **Tokenization finally arrives** [00:47] — After years of talk, Robinhood sees blockchain tech now being used at scale, and the team is excited about the launch.
- **Launch metrics: 95M transactions, $450M TVL** [01:01] — Since launching July 1st, Robinhood Chain has processed over 95 million transactions and reached $450 million in TVL, while Robinhood Earn offers around 7% on stablecoins for retail customers.
- **Where the TVL comes from** [01:29] — At least $100 million comes from retail customers, plus institutional backing. Some are DeFi natives who bridged from other chains, while many are Robinhood customers using DeFi for the first time.
- **Earn is a lending protocol, not risk-free** [02:24] — The ~7% yield comes from a lending protocol with inherent risks. Robinhood partnered with Morpho and added insurance as a safety net to protect customers.
- **Inside the Robinhood app** [03:38] — Robinhood Earn is offered directly in the main app, making it accessible to roughly 26-27 million funded accounts. Users can move dollars to stablecoin lending in a few taps.
- **Stock tokens trade 24/7 across 120+ countries** [06:06] — Robinhood launched tokenized stocks available on DEXs 24/7 and in 120+ countries via Robinhood Wallet, giving users optionality to hedge weekend news.
- **One-to-one backing of tokenized stocks** [06:31] — Robinhood's stock tokens are backed one-to-one, so even in a worst-case bankruptcy scenario the underlying assets remain available. The tokens also earn dividends and corporate actions.
- **DeFi composability with stock tokens** [08:34] — Users can already use stock tokens as collateral on DEXs, e.g., via partner Lyra for perpetuals, enabling hedge strategies while keeping exposure.
- **Clarity Act and level playing field** [09:25] — Kerbrat argues regulation should not penalize stablecoin yield; customers deserve access to high yield, and the Clarity Act would create a level playing field.
- **AI agents via MCP** [11:50] — Robinhood launched an MCP that lets AI agents connect to portfolios and place orders, with guardrails and settings; crypto support is coming soon. A product called Dex provides digestible portfolio intelligence.
- **Canada launch and global expansion** [13:38] — Robinhood recently launched in Canada with up to 50 assets with no fee, following the acquisition of WonderFi, and is working to localize products by jurisdiction.

### Conclusion

Robinhood Chain is an ambitious bet to fuse DeFi yields and tokenized assets with a regulated, user-friendly platform — and early adoption suggests there is real demand. The roadmap points to a future where all assets are tokenized, accessible 24/7, and increasingly managed by AI agents.

## Transcript

Robinhood chain was just launched 3 weeks ago and has already reached $450 million in TVL. I'm with the man behind it today for a special edition of the Daily Wolf. Let's go.
host Scott Melker, also known as the Wolf of All Streets. And as you can see, we are not in the studio today and not covering the news of the day because we have the opportunity to speak with a very special guest. I've got Johan
Kerbrat here from Robinhood, the SVP GM of crypto plus some other things. >> We got to get you a longer title. I think we need to give you more jobs. So, listen, you and I have been talking for years. It seems like something
with the with the launch of Robinhood chain and it seems like you guys have crypto world here. >> Yeah, we're really excited. You know, I think for a long time there was a lot of talk around tokenization and about
blockchain technology and now it's finally here. We're seeing a lot of usage on the chain it's launched since July 1st, already more than 95 million transaction, 450 million in in TVL like you mentioned
Robinhood Earn where you can get approximately 7% on stable coin and retail customers. So, really exciting launch. >> So, let's start at the 450 million TVL total value locked for for for those who
Where is that coming from? How much would you say is crypto native who who bridged over to be a part of the exciting new launch and how many are Robinhood customers who maybe don't even, you know, have not touched DeFi
before any of this and just want access to the earn product, for example? product is definitely a big part of it. At least 100 million is already from the retail customer and you also have institution to back it up behind. You
You have people that are starting DeFi for the time. They want to try the stock try also some of the meme coin that are available on the chain. Um and we also have, you know, all the DeFi people that actually came over from
Um I think the activity that we've seen in the past 2 weeks really grabbed a lot we saw a lot of bridging between different chain to the Robin chain. about that. So, you're offering effectively 7 7%, right? I found it so
massive debate in Washington over stablecoin yield, and the banks are fighting with the industry, and the believe hinges on that, although I think it's ethics.
And here you are, you know, 7% safe yield, you know, and so, I mean, using it? >> Right. Um so, it's a it's a lending protocol. So, it's not exactly uh fully safe. There are risks that are involved
with it. Uh we are partnering with one of the main protocol called Morpho. Uh because I think Morpho has been able to create this um in between the safe yield and also a pretty high percentage with a bit of
that. What we did that is very unique is we wanted to focus on a stable percentage. And so, the the return that we are giving right now is about 7%. Um will change really in step logs, not just like every hour like some of of our
we are really worried about was around safety and security. A lot of people, you know, when they think about DeFi, they think about smart contract hacks or and this kind of thing. So, what we wanted to do is find an insurance that
uh will give some uh safety net for our customer. And so, that way we think we combine high yield and also the safety aspect to really bring a product that we can bring to the masses of Robinhood. Um and the the product is offered within
the main app of Robinhood. So, it's 26 or 27 million funded account that I have access to this product now. >> And it's super easy, right? So, that I think that might be the big unlock here is that it's on the main platform and
done, right? Because I think that's always been our problem. UX/UI confusion, private keys. >> Yeah, exactly. That's been our bread and butter, making complicated problem very easy to use. So, here you will get from
your dollar into stablecoin into lending into a vault right away in just a few taps. And same thing when remove the the asset from the lending pool, you can actually pull them and
a as a user. >> What's that look like? You're a Robinhood user, you open your app and >> Yeah, just on the main screen actually, if you scroll a little bit, you will see Robin Earn and you will see the 7% and
that rate will change as soon as you know, there is a change there. And the very cool product I think here is also that whatever you're lending, let's say you you lend a thousand dollar, you will see the amount updating real
time with the vault. So, every five, six seconds, you will see your your capital I think that's very cool. >> So, this is obviously the first right? You've you've launched it, you've just I I imagine you've got big plans
chain. So, obviously as we mentioned before, you have kind of the crypto what crypto people do, launching NFTs and memes and and having a pretty good time. But, I think you and Vlad and the messaging has been very RWA
messaging has been very RWA tokenization, future of finance focused. for that? What do you have coming? >> Yeah, and to be clear, like we we welcome the memes. I think a lot of people are asking me, you know, are you
are you thinking about it? And really for us, I think it's a great way to bring a lot of these DeFi native people, to bring market makers, to bring TVL into the chain and then they can actually cross to some of all the
products that are also interesting. Tokenized asset is really what we we've been thinking a lot about stock token. We launched a lot of all stock token that are available 24/7 and on D5. It's available in 120 plus countries on our
Robin wallet, which is the wallet official for the chain example on stocks and you know when something is happening on the weekend like like last weekend, the fact that you're able to actually buy and sell the
stock tokens is actually really giving you optionality on how to hedge your something happening in the world. >> There have been a lot of approaches to tokenization. Sometimes you have voting rights and then otherwise, sometimes
approach that? >> Yeah, so those are backed one-to-one. If at some point Robinhood has an issue or let's say Robinhood in the absolute worst-case scenario will go bankrupt,
you still have AV assets that are available for you as but you get dividend, corporate action, And I think that's been really interesting because that was one of the
launched our first version of the stock token. People were a little worried about what will happen if Robinhood has an issue. And so this new version is fully D5, available 24/7, instant settlement and on top of that you're
>> I mean it sounds like you're trying to make everything available 24/7 365 to everybody, everything app, right? And who's trading those right now? Is that, you know,
they trading tokenized stocks or is it for people in foreign countries right >> Yeah, currently it's not available in countries, not the US, but we are seeing a lot of these people actually being a
bit excluded from the market because time zone, because it's too expensive to have to pay commission still in a lot of places. able to do that. And again, like the 24/7 aspects on weekend is really,
really important. For us, we think it's the future. You know, I think at the end stop on weekends, stop at night, like doesn't really make sense. The fact that every exchange in the world is also not making sense. It's splitting liquidity,
the stocks that you're excited about in a world that is becoming more and more global. So I think for us it's this idea, everyone 24/7 and they should decide what is good
>> And what happens when all of these assets are, you know, commingled in a to the point where you can take, you know, securities loan against the entire just one >> Right. One big
>> Absolutely. I think we already see some people using that on DEXs. So they use their stock token as collateral. We are seeing some of our partners that are also offering that. Lyra, for example, is a partner for us for
perpetuals and you can use your stock token as collateral. So you can actually take different strategies. You can hedge your portfolio using perpetuals and at the same time keep your stock token because you want to, you know, wait for
So I think we're just at the very beginning of whatever DeFi is going to offer in the future. I see a world where every asset will be tokenized and available to everyone. And at the end of the day, we
think that having the Robinhood chain as the infrastructure layer will allow us to really build these features that are very easy to use, very simple with a good UX and UI for customers. >> How much does the Clarity Act matter for
>> I think it does. You know, it's very important for us to have a level playing features that are available in some states. Some Some are not available in frustrating for our customer. Like they they want to be able to access the
features that they they care about. So I think this clarity act is very important. I think it's a bit ridiculous, you know, that we are coin should not generate yield for customers.
You know, if we think about it, a lot of customers they want the FDIC insurance. They want to be able to think that their money is safe. So they are already using trying to to get the highest yield possible. Otherwise they will use
So I think at the end of the day we are we are penalizing people that want to utilize crypto and blockchain technology because for stable coin it's a lot easier to send, it's a lot easier to transfer 24/7, all of this. So it's not
customers. >> I think they'd be psyched if they got 1 >> Not everybody's looking for seven. They're just looking to not get nothing. reality, right? It's like you can get nothing or you can get something with
soon as they get stable they sell it to get cash and to get a yield. And so it doesn't make sense. It's not it's not optimized for the stable coin issuer, it's not optimized for the customers. And so I think we need to we need to fix
into a bank last week to deposit a check and they tried to pitch me on their like, we can 4x this by opening a savings account your yield 0.1 to 0.4. >> [laughter]
>> Hard times, you got to get it where you can, but yeah, it's absurd. >> And that's where, you know, I think tokenization blockchain technology will system. We're already seeing it. We're already
seeing that with blockchain and crypto a lot of the legacy player are starting to starting to think about what is their crypto strategy. You saw DTC as well. So I think it's very important that we keep pushing as company like Robinhood
to bring more customers and more retail into this world because that will also hand and we'll stop this discussion on what if or what is a stable coin strategy and we'll just think about how do we take advantage of this situation.
>> Obviously, there's a major AI push as well, not just people wanting to buy a Nvidia, but utilizing AI and I think agentic trading is one of the sort of frontier ideas and you're pioneering that as well. What are you doing on that
>> Yeah, we just recently launched an MCP that you can connect your agent to and it will be able to connect your portfolio on Robinhood and place orders or whatever you kind of want to do with your Robinhood account.
We are launching crypto as well inside the MCP very soon and I think it's customer want to build agents. They are actually really excited about it and so far they were using APIs that are kind of under the hood of platform like
Robinhood and you know, they were not really getting the the best user experience for their agents. So now they can actually decide the strategy that connect to our MCP that is official. You can put guardrails in place. You can
agents will be able to access. You have different settings that you can toggles to make sure that you know, it's acting like you want. But I think in this world where more and more customers are looking to get
information and to looking to act fast on the market, it's really important. is really giving you information. We have a product called Dex that is giving you digest for your stock, your crypto, your entire portfolio and instead of you
everything going on every time you see a notification that you know, your stock is up or down, all this information is fed into you and deeper into it. I think that's really important because it levels the playing
field between the analyst that have like room full of people that are looking at all the information of Bloomberg terminal know, until now was like trying to catch
>> I mean, is that where the entire trend goes? Is it my agent versus your agent forth at each other and we're just, you know, on a beach drinking cocktails worst case scenario and that's the strategy you want to do, I think it
>> [laughter] >> We've got a just over a minute left. I mean, anything else that's coming that you you want to tell the audience about? Robinhood internationally. We just launched in Canada.
launched in Canada. We can trade up to 50 assets with no fee And it's very exciting. It's part of our acquisition of WonderFi. We also so, you know, we're trying to bring Robinhood also on the centralized space
>> I mean, quickly, what does it take to be able to offer the exact same product >> It takes a lot of work, a lot of licenses, a lot of, you know, making sure we can adapt the product to the customer base in that
country because everyone has different needs, different tax wrapper, different everywhere. have to have in each of [laughter] these jurisdictions to get that done. Well, as
you heard it here directly from Johann live in person, Robinhood chain growing think really giving us a window into the future of what's likely to come from Robinhood and from the market in
general. That's it for today. We will be on location all week for these amazing interviews. I'll see you tomorrow for the next Daily Wolf. Peace.