Base Pivots to Finance as Robinhood Chain Memecoins Steal Liquidity

Coinbase is restructuring its Ethereum layer-2 Base around trading, payments and tokenized assets after creator Jesse Pollak conceded that the network's earlier social-products push let it fall behind in crypto's fastest-growing financial categories. Pollak wrote on X that the social thesis around Farcaster, Zora, mini apps and creator coins "disintegrated completely," opening the door for Robinhood's newly launched layer-2 to grab liquidity in the same markets Base now wants to win.

Robinhood Chain, an Arbitrum-based layer-2 that opened to the public on July 1 with Uniswap, Chainlink and BitGo support, hit roughly 1 million monthly active addresses within a week and briefly overtook Base in daily transactions about 10 days after launch. DEX volume reached about $3.1 billion over seven days and the network generated more than $800,000 in revenue over the same window, according to Arbitrum and DeFiLlama data. More than 62,000 addresses held stock or ETF tokens within two weeks, equal to 11.1% of all tokenized-stock addresses across the market.

Why it matters

Both networks are converging on the same prize: tokenized stocks, stablecoins, prediction markets and lending, with Coinbase using Base as settlement infrastructure for its payments and trading stack, and Robinhood using its chain to extend brokerage hours and reach international customers. Pollak identified Robinhood and Stripe as the "formidable" rivals Base has to beat. The handoff of Base app oversight to Jordan Fish, the crypto investor known as Cobie whose Echo fundraising platform Coinbase acquired for about $375 million in October, frees Pollak to focus on infrastructure and developer ecosystem.

Robinhood's early lead carries an uncomfortable echo of Base's own history. Tom Wan at Entropy Advisors estimated memecoins drove about 80% of spot DEX trading on Robinhood Chain, with the cat-themed CASHCAT token alone reaching a $150 million market value during its initial rally, more than ten times the combined value of tokenized stocks on the network. Artemis CEO Jon Ma warned that losses from short-lived tokens risk eroding trust and complicating Robinhood's case as a serious venue for tokenized finance.

Market impact

The competitive reset is forcing both chains to confront the same structural problem: converting distribution advantages into durable financial demand. Pollak said Base will now organize its next phase around trading, payments and AI agents that can hold and spend crypto, framing the network as settlement infrastructure for global finance.