Robinhood Chain's $877M Surge Fuels Ethereum Bullishness
By John Nada·Jul 13, 2026·4 min read
Robinhood Chain's launch boosts ETH sentiment, drawing $141M in ETH. UK considers crypto donation ban post-Farage scandal.
“Robinhood chain is the single most bullish thing I've seen in eth-land in years.” That’s Mike Dudas from 6th Man Ventures, capturing the essence of the moment. Robinhood’s new Layer-2 blockchain, Robinhood Chain, has launched with a bang, boosting investor sentiment around Ethereum.
The Robinhood Chain uses ETH as its native gas token, and in no time, $141 million in ETH has already been bridged to the chain. According to Cointelegraph, this new network has attracted more than half a million wallets holding ETH, outshining even Ethereum’s own L1 and the rival L2 Base in recent DEX volumes, which hit a stunning $877.56 million in just 24 hours.
Robinhood, traditionally a TradFi trading platform, is offering tokenized stocks to customers in 120 countries, further integrating into the Ethereum ecosystem. This move challenges past bearish views on Layer-2 networks, which were thought to divert activity from Ethereum’s L1 without adding transaction fees. But some former skeptics are now re-evaluating. Influencer Ansem notes, "lighter and robinhood L2s are sneakily best setup for an eth bull thesis in a very long time."
Institutional and investor confidence is bolstered by Ethereum’s dominant 47% market share in Real World Assets, as reported by Rwa.xyz. Leon Waidmann, head of Research at Lisk, points out a notable distortion in the market: Ethereum’s Total Value Locked (TVL) of $260 billion now surpasses the $210 billion market cap of Ether. This, he says, could signal that “ETH is underpriced,” a relative valuation even lower than during the 2022 bear market.
While in the tech-political realm, controversy brews in the UK around digital asset donations. The Guardian reported that Labour MPs are pushing to make permanent a moratorium on crypto donations after Nigel Farage’s resignation from Parliament. Farage, under investigation for financial gifts from crypto industry figures, claimed innocence via an X livestream. The situation has stirred discussions on crypto’s influence in politics, with Farage stating, “I have done nothing wrong.”
Across the Atlantic, the Trump administration’s plans for a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve face interdepartmental hurdles. Bloomberg detailed a clash between the Commerce and Treasury departments over reserve management. President Trump’s executive order in March 2025 sought to house the reserve within the Treasury, but legal and logistical concerns persist.
Turning to Capitol Hill, US Senator Ron Wyden is vocally supporting crypto developers in legislative discussions. He’s urged Senate leaders to maintain developer protections in the crypto market structure law, particularly the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA). Wyden argues that developers who release software for digital asset management, without controlling those assets, shouldn’t be classified as money transmitters.
In a twist of political allegiance, President Donald Trump has become a crypto advocate, citing competitive pressures from countries like China. He candidly admitted during a press conference that his pro-crypto stance partly stems from political motivations. "I’ve become a big crypto guy only for one reason: If we don’t have it, China’s going to have it," he explained.
Meanwhile, a legal skirmish unfolds in New York as Kalshi appeals a court decision impacting its operation under state gambling laws. The company’s attempt to bypass state regulation on sports-event contracts as federally regulated derivatives remains embroiled in legal contention.
However, not all stories have a happy ending. A crypto user recently became the victim of a phishing scam, losing nearly $1 million in USDT on Ethereum. Scam Sniffer revealed that scammers manipulated a token approval to drain the victim’s wallet, a tactic increasingly common in the crypto space.
As the crypto landscape evolves, these developments underscore the complex interplay of technology, finance, and regulation. Investors and policymakers alike navigate uncharted waters, where opportunities and risks coexist in a delicate balance.