Robinhood pays $5 in transaction fees to deploy 213 tokenized stock contracts on Arbitrum

The Block

2025-07-02 23:43:39

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Robinhood minted about 213 tokenized equities on Arbitrum for roughly $5 in gas fees as the online brokerage and trading platform prepares to offer European customers access to blue-chip U.S. shares powered by decentralized technology.

Data from blockchain explorer Arbscan shows the brokerage’s deployer address paid just 0.00233 ETH — about $5 at current prices — to create tokens that mirror stocks such as Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple. Each deployment cost three cents on average, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard compiled by Entropy Advisors.

The issuance is part of a growing trend among centralized platforms seeking to offer customers exposure to the U.S. stock market. This week, Robinhood said EU users will soon be able to trade more than 200 tokenized U.S. stocks. Bybit and Kraken rolled out similar products via a partnership with Backed Finance and its xStocks tool.

Venues typically restrict the service to non-U.S. residents, although Dinari — which Gemini has partnered with for its tokenized equity offering — claimed it obtained the first U.S. approval for tokenized shares last week.

Robinhood may issue its blockchain-based financial instruments on a public chain, but the tokens will stay inside a controlled environment. Electric Capital researcher Ren noted the contracts route every transfer through an allow-list of approved wallets, likely blocking moves to self-custody addresses accessible through services like MetaMask. This “walled garden" may benefit centralized players while excluding core DeFi interactions, Ren argued. “It's very possible CeFi with distribution just outcompetes existing DeFi protocols,” the researcher said.

In other news, Robinhood is developing its own Arbitrum-based Layer 2 network and plans to offer perpetual futures trading in Europe. Other announcements shared this week said the company would also launch crypto staking services for Ethereum and Solana in the U.S. and EU markets.

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