Arbitrum (ARB) experienced one of the most remarkable price increases in the cryptocurrency market today. Ranked as the 53rd largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, ARB rose approximately 49% in the last 24 hours, reaching $0.1972. While the increase exceeded 50% at some points during the day, ARB still remains approximately 92% below its all-time high of $2.40 recorded on January 12, 2024.
One of the main catalysts behind the sharp rise in ARB is the rapid growth of Robinhood Chain, built on Robinhood’s ARB technology. Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum Layer 2 network that launched its mainnet on July 1, 2026, uses the Arbitrum Orbit infrastructure. Under the Arbitrum Expansion Program, ARB-based chains operating outside of Arbitrum One and Nova contribute 10% of their net protocol revenue to the Arbitrum ecosystem. According to Arbitrum Foundation data, in July, the first month of Robinhood Chain’s operation, the $360,000 in licensing revenue generated from this program constituted 35% of Arbitrum DAO’s monthly revenue.
The recent extraordinary acceleration in activity on Robinhood Chain has further increased the importance of this revenue model for Arbitrum. Daily transaction fees on the network surged to millions of dollars in early September, surpassing the Ethereum mainnet and Coinbase’s Base network on some days. Record levels were also seen in Robinhood Chain’s decentralized exchange trading volume, with the network’s 24-hour DEX volume reaching billions of dollars, increasing investor interest in the ARB ecosystem.
One of Robinhood Chain’s prominent use cases is its “Stock Tokens” product. Issued by Robinhood Assets Limited, these tokens track the economic performance of US stocks such as NVIDIA, Apple, and Alphabet. While not providing users with direct legal ownership of company shares, the products are offered in numerous countries outside the US.
The economic model between Arbitrum and Robinhood also sparked a notable debate on social media between the founders of Solana and Arbitrum. Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, argued that Robinhood Chain’s 10% revenue share paid to the Arbitrum ecosystem was enough to cover approximately four times the transaction fees on Solana, suggesting that if Robinhood chose Solana, it could offer users significantly lower, even subsidized, transaction costs.
Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs and ARB, responded to Yakovenko, stating that Robinhood retains approximately 90% of the gas revenue on the ARB infrastructure, while it does not receive any revenue from basic network transaction fees on Solana. Goldfeder added that by choosing Arbitrum, Robinhood has opted to “become a homeowner instead of a tenant.”
In ARB’s revenue sharing model, 8% of the 10% share is allocated to the Arbitrum DAO treasury, managed by ARB holders, and 2% is dedicated to ecosystem development. Therefore, continued growth in transaction volume and network revenue on Robinhood Chain, while not directly distributed to ARB token holders, is seen as a significant factor strengthening Arbitrum DAO’s revenue and ecosystem economy.
*This is not investment advice.
Continue Reading: Arbitrum Price Rises 50 Percent in One Day—Here’s Why and What You Need to Know