Base Strikes Back Against Robinhood Chain and Leverages Its Distribution Network

Robinhood Chain surpassed Base in daily active users on July 21, just four weeks after its launch. Coinbase's network responds by highlighting its 187.8 million agent payments and an imminent launch of tokenized stocks. The battle for on-chain distribution is just beginning.

In Brief

• Robinhood Chain has crossed 230,000 daily active users and accumulated over $9 billion in DEX volumes in one month.
• Over 80% of this activity comes from memecoin trading, with tokenized stocks representing only 4% of the volumes.
• Base counters with its distribution infrastructure: 187.8 million payments x402, $3.9 billion in stablecoins, and partnerships with Visa, Shopify, and JPMorgan.

Coinbase's Layer 2 network is going through a turbulent phase. After long dominating the Ethereum L2 landscape, Base sees Robinhood Chain contesting its leadership with a speed that commands respect. In just four weeks of existence, Robinhood Chain has recorded around 230,000 daily active users, significantly surpassing Base's count.

The cumulative volumes on its DEX have also crossed the $9 billion mark, peaking at $877.6 million in 24 hours on July 12, temporarily elevating Robinhood Chain to the second position globally behind Solana.

However, this explosive start hides a more nuanced reality. Over 80% of the recorded volumes come from memecoin trading, not from the tokenized stocks that Robinhood had presented as its signature. The latter accounts for only 4% of the platform's on-chain activity.

Even after a fivefold increase in this metric by July 25, tokenized stocks remain a marginal fraction of the daily volume, with stablecoins still being the most significant category.

In light of these figures, Base co-founder Jesse Pollak made his mea culpa. In two lengthy messages posted on X, he acknowledged that the network's bet on on-chain social products (Farcaster, Zora, mini-apps, and creator coins) had completely disintegrated. A bitter realization that leaves Base lagging in critical segments, particularly perpetual contracts and prediction markets.

Pollak also conceded that tokenized stocks in an EVM environment represented a space where Robinhood Chain has excelled, admitting that Base was behind on this point while noting that a solution was near. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong had made similar remarks earlier in the month, acknowledging the failure of the content coins strategy.

Base has focused on trading, payments, and agents, in that order. These three pillars are inextricably linked, he noted, adding that most resources will now go towards trading.

Base's response is not played out in terms of daily active users or DEX volumes. Xen Baynham-Herd, head of global growth at Base, told Bitcoin.com News that the network's x402 payment protocol has already processed 187.8 million agent payments, worth $42.4 million, with over 5,000 merchants. He also reminded of Base's integration into Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot and the May Azul upgrade, which brings withdrawal finality to about one day.

The x402 protocol brings fees to zero and gas costs to a hundredth of a cent, where traditional cards charge up to 30 cents per transaction. Beyond agent payments, Base holds about $3.9 billion in stablecoins, nearly 90% of which is in USDC, placing it neck and neck with Arbitrum at the top of the L2 rankings. Shopify processes USDC payments on Base, and JPMorgan settles its tokenized deposit product there, advantages that a four-week-old chain cannot claim.

In summary, the duel between Base and Robinhood Chain illustrates two philosophies of on-chain distribution: institutional depth versus retail virality. On one side, a network backed by three years of infrastructure and partnerships with Visa and JPMorgan. On the other, a chain that has gained 230,000 users in a month, but over 80% of its activity is still driven by memecoins. The central question is not the number of users today, but which model will hold when the novelty effect fades.

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