Robinhood Chain Out-Earned Ethereum in Its First Quarter, ARK Says

Robinhood Chain generated about $51 million in network profits in its very first quarter of operation. That is more than Ethereum made over the very same 3 months, about $41 million, according to ARK Invest’s DeFi Quarterly for Q3 2026The brand-new chain likewise came close to BNB Chain, that made about $54 million.

For anybody holding ETH, the contrast gets here in a weak quarter. Ethereum’s profits fell about 35% while the majority of its big competitors grew. ARK does not anticipate Robinhood Chain to maintain this rate, and it describes why.

The report covers the quarter that ended on 30 September 2026. In Robinhood Chain’s case, “first quarter” suggests its very first quarter live, not calendar Q1.

Network Revenue Rebounds, however Ethereum Misses Out

Overall network profits throughout the chains ARK tracks increased about 24% from the previous quarter to about $349 million. ARK states this is the very first boost in 5 quarters. However, the overall is still about 47% lower than a year previously.

The gains were irregular:

Solana: about $76 million, up about 48%, which ARK connected to a rebound in memecoin tradingBNB Chain: about $54 million, up about 54%Robinhood Chain: about $51 million in its very first quarterEthereum: about $41 million, down about 35%

The sector grew while Ethereum diminished. A chain that did not exist a quarter previously ended up ahead of it.

ARK Expects Robinhood Chain’s Revenue to Fall

ARK cautions readers not to deal with the $51 million as a run rate. “We do not expect to see Robinhood Chain continue to post such impressive revenue numbers,” the report states, “as a recent increase in gas on Robinhood Chain will eliminate high fees from congestion pricing.”

To put it simply, part of the chain’s income originated from charges that increased when the network was crowded. With more capability, those charges ought to diminish. ARK did not offer the date or information of the gas modification in the product we examined, so it is not yet clear just how much of the next quarter it will impact.

Trading Volume Shows the Same Shift

The pattern likewise appears on decentralised exchanges (DEXs), where traders switch tokens straight on-chain.

Solana led with about $197 billion in DEX volume. That was up about 16% and offered it about 36% of the overall. BNB Chain grew about 24% to about $73 billion. Robinhood Chain debuted with about $65 billion, enough to make it the fourth-largest chain by volume.

Ethereum and Base moved the other method. Their DEX volumes fell about 27% and 17% respectively.

Tokenized Stocks Explain Part of the Activity

Much of the brand-new volume originated from tokenized stocks, tokens that track business shares. Area DEX volume in these possessions grew about ninefold to about $50 billion. That equates to about 9% of all area DEX volume, up from about 1% in the 2nd quarter.

2 chains controlled this trade. BNB Chain dealt with about $16.5 billion and Robinhood Chain about $13.7 billion, with Solana 3rd at about $6.9 billion. ARK includes a caution for the leader: Binance rewards might have pumped up BNB Chain’s volume.

The next quarterly figures will evaluate both parts of this story. One concern is whether tokenized stock trading holds its share of DEX volume. The other is just how much of Robinhood Chain’s earnings is left as soon as the blockage costs disappear.