Base fights back against Robinhood Chain and bets on its distribution network

Robinhood Chain surpassed Base in four weeks after launch, leading the Layer 2 track in terms of daily active users.

On July 21, Robinhood Chain surpassed Base in terms of daily active users only four weeks after launch. Coinbase's network immediately responded, emphasizing its 187.8 million proxy payment transactions and predicting the imminent launch of tokenized shares. This battle for on-chain distribution has just begun.

Core Points

The number of daily active users of Robinhood Chain exceeded 230,000 during the month, and the cumulative transaction volume of the decentralized exchange exceeded US$9 billion. More than 80% of the activity comes from memin transactions, with tokenized stocks accounting for only 4% of the transaction volume. Base fought back with its distribution infrastructure: 187.8 million x402 agent payments,$3.9 billion in stablecoin reserves, and partnerships with Visa, Shopify and JPMorgan Chase.

got off to a lightning start, but

Coinbase's Layer 2 network powered by memocoinis going through a period of turmoil. After dominating the Ethereum L2 landscape for a long time, Base had to face challenges from Robinhood Chain to its leadership at an alarming rate. Only four weeks after its launch, Robinhood Chain has reached approximately 230,000 daily active users, far exceeding Base. The cumulative trading volume of its decentralized exchanges also exceeded US$9 billion, with a single-day peak reaching US$877.6 million on July 12, once ranking second in the world after Solana.

Behind this start lies a more subtle reality: More than 80% of trading volume comes from memin transactions, rather than the tokenized stocks Robinhood previously advertised, which account for only 4% of activity on the platform chain. Even if the indicator increased fivefold as of July 25, tokenized securities still accounted for only a very small share of daily trading volume, and stablecoins remained the largest category.

Base faces up to its shortcomings and adjusts its strategy

Facing the data, Base co-founder Jesse Pollak reflected. He posted a lengthy post on Platform X admitting that the decision to bet on social products (Farcaster, Zora, mini apps and creator tokens) on the online chain has "completely disintegrated." This bitter perception has left Base lagging behind on key tracks such as perpetual contracts and forecasting markets. Pollak also admitted that deploying tokenized stocks in the EVM environment is "an area where Robinhood Chain does a good job", admitted that Base "has a gap in this regard," and revealed that the solution is about to be launched. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong made similar remarks earlier this month, admitting the failure of the content token strategy.

"The priority order of Base is transaction, payment, and agency, and the three are intertwined." He made it clear that most of the resources in the future will be invested in the trading field.

Robinhood's difficult to replicate distribution network

Base's response did not focus on daily active users or DEX transaction volume. Xen Baynham-Herd, global head of growth at Base, revealed that the network's x402 payment protocol has processed 187.8 million agent payments worth US$42.4 million, covering more than 5000 merchants. He also mentioned that Base has been integrated into Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot program and the "Azul" upgrade completed in May, which shortened the final confirmation time for withdrawals to about one day.

The x402 protocol reduces fees to zero, with fuel costs as low as 0.01 cents per transaction, while traditional bank cards charge up to 30 cents per transaction. In addition to agency payments, Base holds approximately US$3.9 billion in stablecoins (nearly 90% USDC), ranking first in the L2 rankings with Arbitrum. Shopify already processes USDC payments on Base, where JPMorgan also settles its tokenized deposit products-assets beyond the reach of a chain that has only been online for four weeks.

In short, the battle between Base and Robinhood Chain embodies two on-chain distribution philosophies: institutional depth versus retail viral spread. On one hand, there is a network with three years of infrastructure accumulation and partnerships with Visa and JPMorgan Chase; on the other hand, there is a chain that attracted 230,000 users within the month, but more than 80% of its activities are still driven by memin. The core question is not the current number of users, but which model will last when the novelty wears off.