Robinhood has launched the public testnet for Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum Layer 2 network built on Arbitrum, which has a total value locked (TVL) of over $2.3 billion.

The testnet enables developers to start building apps and infrastructure on Robinhood Chain, which the company said is designed to support tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), lending platforms, perpetual futures exchanges, and other on-chain financial services, according to a press release viewed by The Defiant.

Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s head of crypto, said in an exclusive interview with The Defiant that the testnet is an early step toward building a broader on-chain financial ecosystem.

“We think that it’s really going to accelerate all the development of on-chain financial services and all this tokenization future that we’ve been talking [about] for a long time,” Kerbrat told Camila Russo, founder of The Defiant. “So the testnet is really the first step to lay down the groundwork for an ecosystem that will help define all the tokenized reward assets that we’re planning on launching.”

The move comes as more financial firms adopt on-chain technology and begin integrating products directly on blockchain networks. One area seeing especially fast growth is tokenized RWAs. Distributed Asset Value has reached $23.8 billion, up about 11% over the past month, according to RWAxyz data.

According to the release, the testnet gives developers access to basic network tools, documentation, and Ethereum development software built on Arbitrum. Robinhood said some infrastructure providers are already connecting to the network, with more expected to join as testing continues.

Developers will also gain access to testnet-only assets, including stock tokens, along with direct testing through Robinhood Wallet in the coming months.

Kerbrat described Robinhood Chain as permissionless, meaning anyone can deploy applications. However, apps that appear inside the Robinhood app would still need to meet internal product requirements, he said.

Robinhood also plans to be one of the first major builders on the network, Kerbrat said, and ultimately wants to move more of its own infrastructure on-chain.

“The first developer to build on the chain is really going to be Robinhood,” he said. “And our vision is not just to have one or two products there, but to have the entire Robinhood infrastructure to be slowly replaced by the blockchain.”

Kerbrat revealed that early partners involved in the launch include Alchemy, LayerZero, and others, which are helping support the first phase of the public testnet.

“But the more we continue to build, the more we’re going to also launch our own products that are going to be either in partnership or directly revenue-made product,” he added. “But I think for us, the idea is that it’s not just a revenue chain only, but also something that other developers can actually build on top of.”

Robinhood has already rolled out tokenized stock products in Europe, with the offerings expanding quickly – Kerbrat said they grew from about 200 assets at launch last June to roughly 2,000 today.

“So we [grew] 10x in less than a year. And that really shows how flexible our tokenization engine is,” Kerbrat said. “And we think that coming from there, we are really going to be able to use this engine for anything.”

Robinhood Markets Inc. reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings showing revenue of $1.28 billion, representing a 27% increase compared to the same period in the previous year, according to the company’s financial results.

However, the company missed its $1.33 billion forecast. The shortfall was largely due to a slump in the cryptocurrency market, with crypto-related revenue falling 38% year over year to $221 million.

Still, Robinhood’s Q4 earnings per share came in at 66 cents. That’s slightly above analyst expectations of 63 cents.

The revenue growth was driven primarily by increased trading activity and subscription services, the company stated.

For the full year 2025, Robinhood reported total revenue of $4.5 billion, a 52% year-over-year increase, according to the earnings report.

The financial technology company, led by CEO Vlad Tenev and co-founder Baiju Bhatt, has seen sustained growth throughout the fiscal year, the results indicated.

The quarterly and annual figures reflect continued expansion in the company’s core business segments, including transaction-based revenue and recurring subscription income, according to the financial disclosures.

The fact that Robinhood’s revenue from crypto-related transactions plummeted 38% year over year underscores how lower digital asset prices continue to cut into trading activity.

Robinhood’s stock price slipped more than 7% after hours on Tuesday, trading at around $79.48 per share. 

Key takeaways:

• The Bitcoin long-to-short indicator at Binance hit a 30-day low, signaling a sharp decline in bullish leverage demand.

• US-listed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds reversed a negative trend with $516 million in net inflows following a period of heavy liquidations.

Bitcoin (BTC) has fluctuated within a tight 8% range over the last four days, consolidating near $69,000 after an abrupt slide to $60,130 on Friday. Traders are currently grappling with the primary catalysts for this correction, particularly as the S&P 500 holds near record highs and gold prices have climbed 20% over a two-month period.

The uncertainty following the 52% retreat from Bitcoin’s $126,220 all-time high in October 2025 has likely prompted an ultra-skeptical stance among top traders, stoking concerns of further price declines.

Whales and market makers on Binance have steadily pared back bullish exposure since Wednesday. This shift is reflected in the long-to-short ratio, which dropped to 1.20 from 1.93. This reading represents a 30-day low for the exchange, suggesting that demand for leveraged long positions in margin and futures markets has cooled, even with BTC hitting 15-month lows.

Meanwhile, the long-to-short ratio for top traders at OKX hit 1.7 on Tuesday, a sharp reversal from its 4.3 peak on Thursday. This transition aligns with a $1 billion liquidation event in leveraged bullish BTC futures, where market participants were forced to close positions due to inadequate margin. Importantly, this specific data point reflects forced exits rather than a deliberate directional bet on further downside.

Strong ETF demand suggests Bitcoin whales are still bullish

Demand for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) serves as strong evidence that whales haven’t flipped bearish, despite recent price weakness.

Since Friday, US-listed Bitcoin ETFs have attracted $516 million in net inflows, reversing a trend from the previous three trading days. Consequently, the conditions that triggered the $2.2 billion in net outflows from Jan. 27 to Feb. 5 appear to have faded. A leading theory for that pressure pointed to an Asian fund that collapsed after leveraging ETF options positions via cheap Japanese yen funding.

Franklin Bi, a general partner at Pantera Capital, argued that a non-crypto-native trading company is the most likely culprit. He noted that a broader cross-asset margin unwind coincided with sharp corrections in metals. For instance, silver faced a staggering 45% decline in the seven days ending Feb. 5, erasing two months of gains. However, official data has yet to be released to validate this thesis.

The Bitcoin options market followed a similar trajectory, with a spike in neutral-to-bearish strategies on Thursday. Traders pivoted after Bitcoin’s price slipped below $72,000 rather than anticipating worsening conditions.

Related: Bitcoin sentiment hits record low as contrarian investors say $60K was BTC’s bottom

The BTC options premium put-to-call ratio at Deribit surged to 3.1 on Thursday, heavily favoring put (sell) instruments, though the indicator has since retreated to 1.7. Overall, the past two weeks have been marked by low demand for bullish positioning through BTC derivatives. While sentiment has worsened, lower leverage provides a healthier setup for sustainable price gains once the tide turns.

It remains unclear what could shift investor perception back toward Bitcoin, as core values like censorship resistance and strict monetary policy stay unchanged. The weak demand for Bitcoin derivatives should not be interpreted as a lack of confidence. Instead, it represents a surge in uncertainty until it becomes clear that exchanges and market makers were unaffected by the price crash.