Will Robinhood launch its own Arbitrum L2 Blockchain? Is it going head-to-head with Coinbase Base?

On the eve of the ETHCC conference, Robinhood suddenly announced that it would have a discussion with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and the Arbitrum development team, sparking market speculation about its upcoming "self-owned blockchain". Now, this potential L2 is not only expected to become a major competitor to Coinbase Base but also poses a challenge for the next steps of crypto startups.

Robinhood shares the stage with Vitalik and Offchain Labs: Is Arbitrum selected?

Robinhood announced yesterday that it will hold a fireside chat at the ETHCC event, featuring not only its crypto division general manager Johann Kerbrat, but also Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and CSO AJ Warner from the Arbitrum technical team Offchain Labs.

Vitalik’s in town.

Join us in Cannes for a fireside chat with our crypto GM, @JohannKerbrat, the founder of Ethereum, @VitalikButerin, and the CSO of @offchainlabs, @ajwarner90.

Tune in tomorrow at 7:45pm CEST on Robinhood X and YouTube.

— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) June 29, 2025

Although the theme has not been disclosed yet, the community generally connects it with the previous news of Robinhood's entry into Europe and its intention to launch a tokenized platform, believing that Robinhood ultimately seems to choose to utilize the architecture and technology stack of Arbitrum to create its own L2 Blockchain in the competition between Solana and Arbitrum.

(Robinhood is entering the European market, planning to launch its own Blockchain platform to tokenize US stocks)

Judging from the timing, guest combinations, and the ETHCC event, it indeed seems likely to be an announcement of a new product or business expansion. As soon as this news broke, the price of Arbitrum ($ARB) surged 16.6% in a single day, indicating the level of excitement in the market.

Will Robinhood Arbitrum L2 become a potential competitor to Coinbase Base?

The founder of Selv Labs, @0xfoobar, thinks: "If Robinhood really launches an L2 based on Arbitrum, the market may welcome a new balancing force alongside Coinbase Base."

Although the underlying technology (Base adopts Optimism, there are rumors that Robinhood will use Arbitrum), and the development direction of the network (Base emphasizes on-chain and open construction. Robinhood may focus on the tokenization of traditional finance ), which is somewhat different, but both share commonalities: "both are large brokers or exchanges, possessing substantial user traffic and brand advantages."

As Robinhood aims to lead its millions of traditional users to participate directly in on-chain activities within its app, the competition to create the future Web3 user entry point will intensify.

( The US stock brokerage platform Robinhood has launched "micro contracts", allowing trading of Bitcoin, XRP, and Solana futures directly within the app ).

Traditional brokers are devouring market share. Is there still a way out for crypto startups?

Robinhood's move has also raised concerns in the community about whether crypto startups will be impacted. Crypto KOL @howdymerry bluntly stated:

Robinhood is going public tomorrow, and they will slaughter a bunch of startups with their announcement. Welcome to the era of vertical integration in encryption, everything we have worked for in the past three years will be completely devoured by an existing player that has already mastered the channels.

Given that Robinhood has a substantial user advantage, built-in wallets and assets, brand trust, and regulatory qualifications, once the company successfully establishes an on-chain entry and payment structure, it will undoubtedly be a significant blow to startups that are still searching for users and funding.

( Deconstructing Robinhood's encryption blueprint: exchange, stablecoin, self-developed multi-chain products, and RWA all in one )

Robinhood started too late: just a copy of Base?

However, not everyone is optimistic about Robinhood's entry. Some voices believe that they not only entered the market too late, but their strategy is also lacking in creativity:

Robinhood is just copying Base with a different underlying technology; they neither understand this space nor show ambition.

User @mrink0 stated that the company missed a real opportunity, as its L2 not only starts from scratch but may also face challenges such as cold starts and a lack of ecosystem.

Will the platform's creation of its own blockchain become a new narrative?

Regardless, whether Robinhood will announce any significant news is still an unknown, but it's enough to get the community excited. In the future, there will be more and more cases of traditional Web2 platforms entering the encryption field through their own Blockchain. At that time, the battlefield of encryption may shift from the TPS and technical architecture of public chains to who has the most users and the most diverse integration of practical products.

In addition to Coinbase and Robinhood, Kraken and Ethena are also participants in the tokenized platform, and it is exciting to see how the competitive market will change.

This article discusses whether Robinhood will launch its own Arbitrum L2 Blockchain? Is it competing with Coinbase Base? Originally appeared in Chain News ABMedia.