Robinhood Chain transactions fell 42% between mid-September and early October 2026, but money deposited in its decentralized finance applications held above $1 billion. The slowdown also hit active addresses, spot trading and network fees, while perpetual futures trading moved in the opposite direction.
Key takeaways
Daily transaction activity averaged 6.2 million during October 2–8, 2026.
Spot trading shrank 21%; perpetual futures volume grew 26%.
DeFi deposits rose approximately 2% to $1.04 billion during the reporting week.
Eligible Robinhood Wallet swaps receive network fee coverage through December 31, 2026.
According to crypto.news, citing CoinDesk’s October 10 report and data from growthepie and DefiLlama, the decline continued even as Robinhood paid network fees on eligible customer swaps. The figures show lower transaction activity alongside sustained application deposits and growing derivatives volume.
Robinhood Chain transactions and active addresses fall
Average daily Robinhood Chain transactions dropped from 10.8 million to 6.2 million , comparing September 10–16 with October 2–8, 2026. Calculations using growthepie data also showed a 20% decline against the preceding week.
Active addresses averaged approximately 322,000 daily during October 2–8, down 31% from mid-September. The decrease followed unusually heavy trading in late August and early September.
On July 1, 2026, the Ethereum layer-2 network brought its public mainnet online. Growthepie’s quarterly review, published October 9, put the transaction count at roughly 793.7 million for the July-to-September period, with network fees reaching $51 million and application revenue totaling approximately $591.4 million.
Spot trading contracts as perpetual futures grow
Weekly spot trading volume fell 21% to $7.45 billion , while rolling seven-day perpetual futures volume rose 26% to approximately $7.35 billion on October 9, 2026.
DefiLlama figures cited by CoinDesk put decentralized spot exchange volume at $9.46 billion in the previous week. Uniswap accounted for approximately 77% of spot trading during October 2–8, remaining the network’s largest decentralized exchange.
Perpetual futures let traders speculate on cryptocurrency prices without owning the underlying assets. Robinhood introduced access through Lighter when the blockchain launched in July, alongside tokenized stocks and lending applications for eligible users.
DeFi deposits hold above $1 billion as fees retreat
Deposits in Robinhood Chain applications increased approximately 2% to $1.04 billion during the reporting week, according to DefiLlama. Stablecoin supply stood at roughly $1.10 billion; a later snapshot put deposits near $1.05 billion and stablecoin supply around $1.07 billion.
CoinDesk calculated that users paid approximately $65,000 a day in network fees during October 2–8, down 39% from the previous week. That compares with approximately $8 million collected on the busiest day in early September.
Growthepie’s quarterly review showed how concentrated the earlier fee surge had been. Between August 30 and September 10, median transaction costs reached 31 times their earlier average. Those 12 days generated approximately 74% of third-quarter network fees.
The network uses Arbitrum technology . The Arbitrum Expansion Program allocates 8% of qualifying net protocol revenue to the Arbitrum DAO treasury, with another 2% going to the Arbitrum Developer Guild, while a Bernstein research note referenced by CoinDesk suggested Robinhood keeps about 90% of net protocol fee revenue for itself.
Wallet incentives and a proposed tokenized ETF
Robinhood extended network fee coverage for eligible Robinhood Wallet cryptocurrency swaps through December 31, 2026 . Customers making qualifying swaps worth more than $0.50 can receive coverage; the promotion previously had a September 29 expiration date.
Network fees pay for blockchain transaction processing and are separate from trading fees or other application charges. Arcus also began offering additional reward points on October 1, 2026, for customers swapping stock-linked tokens through the wallet.
Robinhood confirmed on October 9 that it was exploring a tokenized ETF with T. Rowe Price , a firm managing roughly $1.9 trillion in assets. The proposed Stock Token would provide eligible investors exposure to an actively managed exchange-traded fund on Robinhood Chain, subject to legal reviews, necessary approvals and final terms.
When Robinhood Chain launched on July 1, it rolled out stock-linked tokens accessible to eligible customers across more than 120 countries, depending on local regulatory limits. These tokens provide economic exposure to securities without direct ownership rights in the underlying shares.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
