Meme coin traders have begun pairing digital tokens with tokenized stocks on Robinhood Chain, Robinhood's layer-2 blockchain network that launched in July. The trend has generated significant trading activity, with meme coin-stock pairs producing $217 million in trading volume on September 2.
The most prominent example involves a meme coin called BONER, which accumulated more than half of the tokenized shares of Hims & Hers Health on Robinhood Chain over the weekend of August 30. The accumulated position briefly pushed the wrapped stock token to $132.64, compared to a real HIMS stock close of $28.84 on Friday. The actual HIMS shares on the NYSE experienced minimal movement.
Several other meme coins have adopted similar strategies. Artificial Inu trades against tokenized Nvidia stock and leads the trend with a $203 million market cap and $16.3 million in 24-hour trading volume. Saylormoon is paired with tokenized Strategy stock, while Clippy XP holds tokenized Microsoft shares. The latest entrant, MEME, is paired with tokenized AMC stock, which has generated a $56 million market cap and $73.5 million in 24-hour volume.
Robinhood Chain allows developers to create applications including meme coins that trade directly against tokenized stocks rather than stablecoins. Tokenized stocks are digital tokens designed to track real shares on a one-to-one basis. Because Robinhood controls token minting through a single licensed partner, the supply of tokenized shares remained fixed during weekend trading when the NYSE was closed, allowing modest trading volumes to significantly move prices.
The trading activity has prompted criticism from company leaders. AMC CEO Adam Aron publicly objected to the tokenized AMC shares trading on the platform, calling the practice "contemptible, outrageous, disgusting, detestable, inexcusable, vile" and questioning its legality. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has previously stated that the chain "works great for memes too," and responded to Aron's criticism by asking "What's the concern?"
