Tokenized stock trading surged more than twentyfold in Robinhood Chain's first quarter, revealing how financial firms could capture millions from Ethereum's layer-2 ecosystem.

Robinhood Chain's trading surged more than twentyfold in three months as its operator captured nearly $46 million in network fees.

The Ethereum layer-2 network, launched on July 1, recorded $14.05 billion in tokenized stock trading volume during its first quarter, according to Bitwise's Oct. 20 staking report.

Monthly volume climbed from $526 million in July to $2.21 billion in August before reaching $11.31 billion in September. The expansion helped the network generate $51.11 million in transaction fees during the quarter, with Robinhood retaining an estimated $45.93 million, or nearly 90%, before operating expenses.

The performance suggests that operating proprietary blockchains could become an increasingly attractive revenue opportunity for financial services companies, while raising questions about how much economic value Ethereum captures from activity conducted on networks built around it.

According to Token Terminal, weekly decentralized exchange trading volume for tokenized stocks across the market rose 447% after Robinhood Chain's launch, from an average of $627 million to $3.4 billion.

Meanwhile, the blockchain's total value locked in decentralized finance has climbed above $1.14 billion, according to DeFiLlama, extending its growth from about $1.03 billion at the end of September.

The number of Robinhood Stock Tokens also doubled from 96 in July to 193 by September. Nvidia-linked tokens led quarterly trading with $2.5 billion, followed by SPY and SpaceX tokens with $1.55 billion and $1.51 billion, respectively.

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