Robinhood shares skyrocket to new all-time high on launch of tokenized stocks and Arbitrum L2 partnership

Robinhood (HOOD) rose to an all-time high of $94.24 on Monday after it rolled out tokenized US stocks for its European Union (EU) customers. The company issued the stocks on the Arbitrum (ARB) blockchain, with plans to launch its own Ethereum-based Layer 2 (L2) chain.

HOOD jumps as Robinhood issues tokenized stocks and ETFs on Arbitrum, plans Layer-2 blockchain launch

Robinhood announced on Monday that European investors can now access tokenized versions of over 200 US-listed stocks and ETFs via Arbitrum, an Ethereum Layer 2 network.

The Robinhood Stock Tokens and ETFs will be available for customers around the clock, five days a week. The feature is part of Robinhood's broader push into blockchain-based infrastructure, with plans to integrate its new tokenized stocks on its own Ethereum-compatible chain. The company claimed its L2 blockchain will be tailored toward tokenized real-world asset trading, seamless bridging and self-custody.

Robinhood also introduced perpetual futures trading for eligible users in the EU, allowing access to crypto derivatives with up to three times leverage. This comes after the company made its ETH and SOL staking services available to US users.

Robinhood shares surged 12.7% to a record high of $94.24 before closing at $93.63 on Monday following the company's announcement.

Likewise, Arbitrum's native token, ARB, earlier rallied over 20% on Sunday before settling around $0.34. The rally was based on rumors about Robinhood's partnership with Arbitrum before confirmation from both parties on Monday.

According to DefiLlama data, the Arbitrum network recorded 418,400 active addresses over the past 24 hours. This represents a 25% increase from the previous week, highlighting a surge in user engagement amid the Robinhood announcement.

However, on-chain data suggest some large holders may be capitalizing on the recent price gains to book profits. Anchorage Digital, Monetalis, and Gelato Network have all engaged in heavy ARB trading activity in the past week, according to smart wallet tracker Lookonchain.

Anchorage Digital transferred 50.1 million ARB to market maker Wintermute's hot wallet over the past two weeks. Separately, a wallet possibly tied to Monetalis received 42.19 million ARB and now holds a total of 77.12 million tokens.

Meanwhile, another transaction revealed that a multisig wallet linked to Gelato Network sent 20 million ARB — worth $5.39 million at the time — to a market maker wallet, now ranking as the 13th-largest ARB holder with tokens worth $27.81 million.

In other news, Robinhood's announcement follows the launch of xStocks by Switzerland-based Backed, a platform that's bringing over 60 tokenized stocks to Kraken, Bybit, and decentralized exchanges across the Solana blockchain.