Bernstein maintained its Outperform rating and $160 price target on Robinhood Markets, saying the brokerage’s new Layer-2 network has become a direct source of earnings. Robinhood Chain took in about $33 million in fees over the past 15 days, ahead of Solana at roughly $11 million and BNB Chain at about $9 million.
The note, led by analyst Gautam Chhugani and reported Tuesday by The Block, points to a network that has grown fast since its July 1 launch. Robinhood Chain now holds about $1.5 billion in total value locked and has processed more than $50 billion in DEX volume. “The chain is now earnings,” the analysts wrote, with trading fees tracking between $2 million and $4 million a day.
Robinhood shares closed at $122.11 on Friday, down 2.09%, before the US market holiday on Monday. Bernstein’s target implies roughly 31% upside from that close.
Who gets the fees
The split is the part other exchanges have noticed. Robinhood keeps about 90% of trading fees generated on its chain. Around 10% goes to Arbitrum, which supplies the underlying technology, and less than 1% is paid to Ethereum for data availability. That arrangement is why the fee race has become an argument about chain economics rather than just a leaderboard.
Solana’s camp argues applications should live on cheap public rails and monetize inside the product. Arbitrum’s position is that a large firm licensing the technology and keeping most of the economics is a valid model. BNB Chain’s contributors have said the sector needs to stop treating ever-lower gas as the finish line. The debate picked up publicly last week after Robinhood’s fee dominance became hard to ignore.
Tokenized stocks are the growth engine
The value of tokenized stocks on Robinhood Chain has climbed from about $10 million to $140 million in two months, according to the note. In the week of August 30 the network accounted for roughly 32% of all tokenized-equity transfer value, second only to BNB Chain.
Stablecoins on the network have followed the same curve. Total supply reached about $1 billion, up from roughly $241 million in early July. USDG makes up about 66% of that supply and Ethena’s USDe another 33%, which gives the chain a dollar base for trading pairs without Robinhood issuing its own token.
| Robinhood Chain metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Fees, last 15 days | ~$33 million |
| Daily fee run rate | $2-4 million |
| Total value locked | ~$1.5 billion |
| Cumulative DEX volume | $50 billion+ |
| Tokenized stock value | $140 million, up from $10 million |
| Stablecoin supply | ~$1 billion, up from $241 million |
Bernstein estimates cumulative fees since launch at about $39 million and projects roughly $160 million in annual fees by 2028 if current growth holds.
What it means for the fee war
A brokerage running one of the highest-fee chains in crypto would have sounded backwards a year ago. The thesis instead is that distribution beats cheapness. Robinhood’s roughly 25 million customers trade inside an app they already trust, and the chain’s fees are invisible next to traditional brokerage commissions. Solana processes more transactions at a fraction of the cost, but it does not own the customer relationship the way a brokerage does.
The risk is that the fee advantage invites competition. Other brokerages and fintechs can license the same Arbitrum stack, and BNB Chain’s share of tokenized-equity volume shows alternatives are actively used. Bernstein’s $160 target assumes Robinhood converts its head start into durable market share, which is the part no fee table can settle.
Regulators will also get a say. Tokenized stocks sit in a gray area between securities and crypto, and Robinhood’s US-listed equity base makes it a more visible target than offshore venues. So far the company has leaned into compliance-friendly structures, and the growth figures suggest the approach has not slowed the chain down.
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