Robinhood Chain Transactions Plunge 42% as Brokerage Extends Fee Subsidies to Revive Trading

Daily transactions on Robinhood's blockchain plummeted by 42% from mid-September, dropping to an average of 6.2 million a day in early October. Network fee revenue took a severe hit, generating just $65,000 a day from October 2 to October 8, a steep decline from the network's $8 million peak day in early September. Despite the drop in trading activity, users have not abandoned the platform; total deposits in the chain's lending and trading apps actually grew by 2% over the week to $1.04 billion. Perpetual futures contracts were the sole bright spot, with rolling seven-day volume jumping 26% to $7.35 billion as traders leveraged bets without holding underlying tokens. To combat the broader spot slowdown, Robinhood extended its promotion subsidizing network fees on token swaps over 50 cents through December 31, giving the chain three months to re-engage parked capital before users must cover their own costs.