Robinhood Chain activity drops 42% as daily transactions fall from 10.8 million to 6.2 million

Blockchain activity slows as transactions drop

Activity on Robinhood's blockchain has slowed sharply since mid-September. The network averaged 6.2 million transactions per day from Oct. 2 through Oct. 8, a 42% decline from the 10.8 million daily transactions seen during Sept. 10–16, according to CoinDesk calculations using growthepie data.

The drop in transactions coincides with a fall in weekly spot trading volume, which measures direct token buying and selling. Uniswap, a decentralized exchange that lets users trade tokens without a middleman, handled about 77% of the spot trading on the chain.

The decline marks a shift from September, when CoinDesk reported that network fees had collapsed 97% even as transaction counts stayed near record highs. Both fees and trading volume have now turned lower.

Key numbers

• Daily transactions fell 42%, from 10.8 million to 6.2 million
• Active blockchain addresses averaged 322,000 per day, down 31% from mid-September
• Weekly spot trading volume dropped 21% to $7.45 billion
• Deposits in lending and other applications remain above $1 billion
• Perpetual futures volume rose 26%
• Robinhood keeps roughly nine-tenths of network fees collected on the chain

What Robinhood is doing to revive usage

Robinhood launched its chain in July to allow users to trade tokens and borrow or lend through apps connected to Ethereum, with plans for around-the-clock trading of tokens tied to stocks and funds. Every transaction on the network requires a fee, and the apps built on top charge their own charges for trades and loans.

According to a Bernstein note from last month, Robinhood keeps about 90% of the network fees. With fewer transactions, the fees the company collects are likely shrinking as well.

Robinhood has said it will continue covering network fees on token swaps worth more than 50 cents through the end of December as part of an effort to bring activity back to the network.

Deposits remain steady despite lower trading

While spot trading has cooled, the decline does not appear to be driven by users pulling their money out. Deposits in the chain's lending and other applications stayed above $1 billion during the same period. Perpetual futures trading volume, which allows traders to bet on price movements without owning the underlying asset, actually rose 26%.

Why this matters for crypto investors

The slowdown on Robinhood Chain raises questions about whether the network can attract and keep enough users to justify the investment. If fewer people use the chain, Robinhood earns less from the fees it collects, and the ecosystem may struggle to grow. The fact that deposits remain high suggests users have not abandoned the chain entirely, but lower transaction counts and trading volumes indicate reduced engagement.

What is still unclear

It is unclear whether the decline in active addresses means fewer people are using the network or simply that existing users are transacting less. One person can control multiple addresses, and automated trading programs can generate thousands of transactions, making it difficult to measure real user counts from blockchain data alone.

Sources

• CoinDesk