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# Robinhood has officially launched its own network
In the Sunday update we cover the technology and components that power Nook - the **easiest way to earn** on your money through **open lending markets.**
This week - these markets took a major step forward with **Robinhood** launching the Robinhood network.
With over **$800M in DEX transactions** on this network, the Robinhood chain enables Robinhood customers (including those not using the Robinhood app) to interact with their new network.
Today - I want to dive into the fundamentals of what a network is, why Robinhood went through with creating their own - and what it means for you and earning across open markets.
***
#### Why finance is being built on open networks
We have covered it before but it’s always worth revisiting the fundamentals.
A **network** is a **blockchain**, or “chain” that allows people to **transact with one another** without having to meet in person, verify identity or any personal information. The verification process is instead done through through mathematical proofs. If I want to record that I have a large deposit on a network, I can do it with just (1) some code (2) a small fee of less than $0.01.
The fee then goes to developers to automatically verify your transaction and record it in the ledger. A universal receipt book for everyone to read.
Think of a network or a blockchain as an **open record book**. Stock markets, banks, mortgage brokers all have similar record books for their safekeeping - but the key difference is that an **open onchain network** is **visible for everyone** to read.
It can’t be erased, or cancelled or deleted. It’s written out in the open.
These open networks, or blockchains, have now been around for over 10 years.
With over $30 trillion in stablecoin transactions completed onchain in 2025, they are quickly becoming the default way for transactions to be recorded. Including for large banks and financial institutions like **BlackRock**, **JPMorgan** and **Fidelity**. In 2024 **BlackRock** created their own money market fund called BUIDL, because they saw that using an open network could be more efficient than using a custom one.
JPMorgan followed suit and did the same last week. Fidelity launched their own stablecoin on a blockchain. Adopting the same advantages for moving funds from one customer to another.
When a network is open, readable and secure - it becomes a **lower cost alternative** to moving funds. So big companies, banks and financial institutions have found use for it just as much as individuals trading, lending, borrowing and sending money.
This is the foundation of Nook: **Open markets** that large institutions and people like you and I can use and access - all together. At launch, Nook was built on Base network. The blockchain developed by Coinbase, for low cost, high speed transactions. Since then, we have launched new network support including Optimism, Monad and more - to connect funds.
#### Why Robinhood created their own network
If there are already multiple networks and trillions of dollars being processed by these networks, it’s a fair question to ask - *why* do we need **another network?**
Nook already supports multiple fast, inexpensive and scalable networks. So *why* do more players like Robinhood keep entering the space?
I think the important thing to think about is the space and **potential opportunity** at stake. Both are huge.
Today, most of our transactions are dominated by a few key players across Credit and Debit. Credit card companies and rails like **Visa** and **Mastercard** alone make up roughly **90% of all transactions across the globe**. **$27 trillion** in **transactions per year**. As for debit transactions - ACH and wire transfers from bank accounts to bank accounts, there are only a handful of companies there as well that control it.
The financial rails of today as we know them are controlled by **just a few companies**.
And we as consumers pay (a lot) to use them. In 2025, Visa, Mastercard and American Express collectively generated **$145B in revenue**. **$103B** from **transaction fees**. That’s **0.3% of the American economy.**
These companies are **massive** because customers and or merchants, on average, get charged 2.35% of each credit card and 0.73% of each debit card transaction. We live in a world where companies are making billions of dollars per year - in a sector of the economy that is valued in the trillions of dollars. So replacing this system is hyper competitive because it’s potentially ***hyper***** lucrative.**
So it was only a matter of time before Robinhood started to take control of their own destiny with their own network.
With Robinhood’s new network, they can do two major things: **save money in new ways** and **make money in new ways**.
The first and most straightforward way is the **money they are saving**. The fees I mentioned earlier to run an onchain network are low, but they are not nothing. In 2025, the Ethereum chain generated **$715M in revenue**. Base chain, the chain created by Coinbase, **generated $75M in revenue**.
If Robinhood can build their own network, **they can decide** what is charged and save money by not paying another company. Especially another competitor.
The second reason is that they can **design the network** for their **customer needs**. Different networks prioritize different actions.
Speed of trade finality for example is one. Agentic trading to support bots is another. There are many tradeoffs when designing a network between speed, cost, scale and more. Visa is focused on speed and scale for example and protecting businesses. American Express is known for very lenient clawbacks. There are tradeoffs and you can’t make everyone happy. But by **creating their own network**, Robinhood can make their **27.7 million customers** happy.
Providing them with lower cost (or free) transactions, that are still fast and simple. Instead of using someone else’s roads - **they decided to pave their own.**
#### Where Nook fits in
As more networks are created by companies like Robinhood and Coinbase as the competition heats up - **Nook sits in the middle of this** - **earning** where the **demand for your money is.**
We are not seeing a high earning rate on the Robinhood chain, *yet*. But we *are* watching it closely. And if (or when) lending on the Robinhood network were to make sense, Nook will unlock access to the Robinhood network and any open network.
But currently the rate on Robinhood chain is 2.1%, **4x less than the current highest rate available through Nook** - if it were higher, it would be live.
So if we zoom back out, it's all part of the broader trend: the world is moving towards transacting, including earning, across open markets. We built Nook **for you to benefit from that**. So even though Robinhood chain is not yet a good fit for Nook, we report on this because it's still a part of the evolution of this industry and the markets you earn from. The more networks and competition - the better.
So that's why, when Robinhood launches a new network - we see it as a positive.
Thank you for being a part of Nook and this shift.
Joey
Cofounder. CEO of Nook.