Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum layer-2 network launched in July, experienced a dramatic surge and collapse in memecoin-stock token pair trading. Daily volume climbed to $443 million in early September before dropping 96% from that peak, according to CryptoQuant data.
The network, built on the Arbitrum Orbit stack, was designed to enable tokenized real-world assets, particularly stock tokens that offer 1:1 price exposure to US equities and ETFs. However, traders quickly began pairing cat-themed memecoins with these stock tokens, creating hybrid trading activity that briefly outpaced direct stock token trading.
On September 2, memecoin-stock token pairs recorded $217 million in volume, surpassing the $127 million recorded in direct stock token trading that day. One memecoin called CASHCAT reached a market capitalization of $250 million on August 27.
The decline in trading volume coincided with reports of coordinated rug-pull activity on the chain. Despite the collapse in trading activity, total value locked on the network has remained near $1 billion.
Direct stock token trading at $127 million on September 2 suggests genuine demand for onchain equity exposure among non-US users permitted to access the network. Stock tokens are issued as debt securities and are not available to US persons. The network charges gas fees in ETH and has no native token.
