Robinhood’s Tokenized Stock Launch Sends HOOD Soaring, ARB Follows Suit
Robinhood (HOOD) shares reached an all-time high of $94.24 on Monday after the company launched tokenized U.S. stocks for its European Union (EU) customers. The stocks are issued on the Arbitrum (ARB) blockchain, with plans to launch its own Ethereum-based Layer 2 (L2) chain.
Robinhood Expands into Tokenized Assets
Robinhood announced that European investors can now access tokenized versions of over 200 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs through Arbitrum, an Ethereum Layer 2 network. This move signifies Robinhood’s broader push into blockchain-based infrastructure.
Robinhood’s Stock and ETF Tokens will be available to customers 24 hours a day, five days a week. The company plans to integrate these new tokenized stocks into its own Ethereum-compatible chain. Robinhood stated that its L2 blockchain will be designed for trading tokenized real-world assets, seamless bridging, and self-custody.
In addition to tokenized stocks, Robinhood has also introduced perpetual futures trading for eligible users in the EU, allowing access to cryptocurrency derivatives with up to three times leverage. This follows the company’s decision to make ETH and SOL staking services available to U.S. users.
Market Reaction and Arbitrum’s Surge
Robinhood’s stock price jumped 12.7% to a record high of $94.24 before closing at $93.63 on Monday following the announcement. The native token of Arbitrum, ARB, also experienced a surge, recovering over 20% on Sunday before stabilizing around $0.34. This recovery was fueled by rumors of Robinhood’s partnership with Arbitrum, which were later confirmed.
Data from DefiLlama indicates that the Arbitrum network recorded 418,400 active addresses in the past 24 hours, a 25% increase compared to the previous week. This highlights a surge in user engagement following the Robinhood announcement.
Potential Profit-Taking by Large Holders
However, on-chain data suggests that some large holders may be capitalizing on the recent price gains to take profits. Anchorage Digital, Monetalis, and Gelato Network have been involved in significant ARB trading activity in the past week, according to smart wallet tracker Lookonchain.
Anchorage Digital transferred 50.1 million ARB to market maker Wintermute’s hot wallet in the past two weeks. Separately, a wallet possibly linked to Monetalis received 42.19 million ARB and now holds a total of 77.12 million tokens.
Another transaction revealed that a multisig wallet linked to Gelato Network sent 20 million ARB, worth $5.39 million at the time, to a market maker wallet, which now ranks 13th among the largest ARB holders with tokens valued at $27.81 million.
Competition in the Tokenized Asset Space
Robinhood’s announcement follows the launch of xStocks by Backed, a Switzerland-based platform that is bringing over 60 tokenized stocks to Kraken, Bybit, and decentralized exchange platforms on the Solana blockchain. This indicates a growing trend of tokenizing traditional assets within the cryptocurrency space.
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