Robinhood Deploys AI-Native Ethereum Layer-2 Focused on Tokenized Stocks

Robinhood has activated the public mainnet for its new Arbitrum-powered Ethereum layer-2 network, which the company describes as "AI-native" because it enables direct onchain trading by AI agents.

Robinhood Chain links traditional brokerage services to crypto DeFi capabilities. The rollout included immediate integrations with BitGo and Chainlink plus market-making partnerships involving Uniswap and Pleiades. The setup aims to connect the firm's conventional brokerage operations with its digital asset infrastructure.

Central to the debut are Stock Tokens, which represent onchain versions of equities from firms such as Nvidia and Apple. Holders on Robinhood Chain can deposit these tokenized shares into lending pools to serve as collateral for DeFi activities. The mechanism converts stock holdings into reusable on-chain assets in ways not feasible within conventional brokerages.

Perpetual futures trading and yield products roll out with the network. Robinhood enabled perps trading inside its wallet via the decentralized perpetuals exchange Lighter. It also activated Robinhood Earn for qualifying U.S. customers, allowing them to lend the USDG stablecoin at approximately 7% APY.

Markets register strong gains following the Robinhood Chain introduction. HOOD shares closed more than 8% higher at $108.65 and have climbed nearly 20% over the past month. Lighter's LIT token surged 15% to $2.14, reaching new local highs after the integration.

Venice AI attains unicorn status in separate $65M funding round. Erik Voorhees' privacy-oriented AI platform Venice AI secured $65 million at a $1 billion valuation, marking its first external capital raise barely two years after launch. Dragonfly led the round, joined by Coinbase Ventures and North Island Ventures.

The service provides access to more than 200 open and closed AI models spanning text, image, video and code generation without retaining any data on its servers. Prompts undergo client-side encryption before routing through an external proxy. Venice has surpassed 3 million users, processes 1.7 million API calls daily and generates roughly $70 million in annualized revenue while already operating profitably.

Proceeds will fund GPU acquisitions and construction of proprietary data centers to reduce dependence on rented computing resources and improve profit margins. The associated VVV token climbed 10% to $13.50, achieving a $1 billion fully diluted valuation aligned with the company's post-money figure.