Activity on Robinhood Chain has surged significantly over the past week. According to DefiLlama, the network surpassed Ethereum and Hyperliquid in application revenues over a 24-hour period, trailing only Solana. During the same period, the trading volume on its decentralized exchange (DEX) reached $874.8 million, and the daily transaction count yesterday hit 5,521,213. These figures represent the largest for the network since its mainnet launch on July 1st.
Source: Dune
Regarding daily DEX trading volume, the network has completed a full cycle over two months. From the euphoria in the first week of launch to a six-week decline to around $140 million per day in early August, the network has since shown a three-week uptrend surpassing previous highs set on July 11th.
One Launchpad Accounted for Half the Record
Pons.family is a permissionless token launch platform on Robinhood Chain that allows any user to deploy a fixed-supply token tradable for WETH, with the platform taking a fee on each swap. Since Noxa paused new token launches on July 11th, Pons.family has become the busiest token launch platform on this network.
Source: Dune
Yesterday, Pons token trading volume was $445.98 million, accounting for about 51% of the network's total trading volume for the day. This is nearly 2.6 times the launchpad's peak volume in mid-July and more than twenty times higher than in mid-August.
Uniswap Attacked the Launchpad and Lost the Round
Earlier this month, on August 5th, Uniswap Labs launched Pools.trade — another platform built specifically for Robinhood Chain, featuring zero fees and a locked liquidity version 4. Token trading volume and daily token creation on this platform actually surpassed Pons within the first 24 hours, but the momentum didn't last.
Three weeks later, the incumbent is printing record token volumes. Part of the work is being done by a reflexive fee cycle. Currently, $PONS directs 80% of protocol fees to an automatic TWAP buyback, which sends $PONS to a burn address, according to the protocol documentation, and the team stated on August 29th that 29% of the initial 1 billion token supply had been removed from circulation. This was a day before the record. Greater volume funds greater burns, tokens rise, attention returns, and new tokens launch on the back of it.
Leverage and Stock Token Collateral Provided at the Same Time
Arcus, a decentralized exchange (DEX) created by dYdX and supported by Robinhood Crypto, launched pTokens on August 25th. These tokens allow perpetual leveraged accounts to be converted into transferable ERC-20 tokens, including pBTC3x and pHOOD3x. Arcus also began accepting SPY, QQQ, and MAG7 stock tokens as collateral with a 50% LTV ratio, giving traders the ability to utilize tokenized stocks without closing them.
Then the broader market shifted. Bitcoin rose from August 17th against the backdrop of, as per Bloomberg, a record $2.7 billion short squeeze — the largest since record-keeping began in 2021 — following a White House crypto meeting and the U.S. Treasury's decision to double long-term bond buyback volumes. BTC reached a high around $81,500. Ether gained nearly 29% for the week, followed by a long list of altcoins.
Launchpad speculation is the most capital-efficient way to express this kind of rotation. Robinhood Chain's bottom coincided almost exactly with the market's, as did its recovery.
What the Protocol Does Not Allow
The peak trading volume on July 11th was driven by novelty in the launch week. This time, it's thanks to a single platform handling half of the entire network's traffic, while a well-funded competitor used the same network with lower fees. Both are records. Only one tells much about how the network will fare when speculation subsides.
The next test for Robinhood Chain will be whether transactions and volumes can hold steady without the support of ponzis.
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