ARK Invest research director Lorenzo Valente said Ethereum captured just 0.15% of Robinhood Chain revenue, arguing the split undervalues its role as the settlement layer despite Robinhood choosing it for technical reasons.
Robinhood Chain has produced about $816,000 in total revenue since launch, according to ARK Invest research director Lorenzo Valente, who argued the distribution across the stack leaves Ethereum underpaid for its role as the settlement layer. Valente said Arbitrum, acting as middleware, took 10% of revenue while Ethereum earned $1,538, or about 0.15%. He said Robinhood selected Ethereum for its technical strengths and customization capabilities rather than using a single layer-1 chain such as Solana or Sui. In Valente's view, that makes the integration a positive signal if Ethereum is treated as a currency, but bearish if investors value it mainly as a revenue-generating asset. He said a fairer structure would give Robinhood 75%, Arbitrum 10% and Ethereum 15%, underscoring a broader debate over whether blockchain value accrues to base-layer settlement networks or to the applications and middleware built above them.