Why Is Robinhood Building on Arbitrum Instead of Solana?
Robinhood is developing an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network for trading tokenized assets, aiming to enhance liquidity and efficiency in financial systems. The initiative responds to frustrations over fragmented tokenization across multiple networks, as expressed by Robinhood's crypto general manager, Johann Kerbrat. The platform plans to launch tokenized stocks and ETFs in the EU, with future expansion contingent on regulatory clarity. Competing exchanges like Kraken and Bybit have already introduced tokenized stock trading on Solana through Backed Finance’s xStocks, emphasizing the need for standardization to avoid liquidity fragmentation. Kraken aims to establish xStocks as a global standard while also planning to utilize its own Ink network. Robinhood's CEO, Vlad Tenev, indicated efforts to integrate the entire Robinhood ecosystem on-chain, leveraging its blockchain for trading and settlement. Arbitrum Stylus, a tool for developers, allows smart contracts to be written in various programming languages, potentially attracting a broader range of developers.
