Arbitrum co-founder defends Robinhood’s 90% fee share

Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder and Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko exchanged competing views on Sept. 6 over why Robinhood built its blockchain using Arbitrum technology instead of operating applications directly on Solana. Summary Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder said Robinhood retains roughly 90% of net chain revenue generated. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko argued Robinhood could instead monetize users through application-level fees directly itself. Robinhood Chain routes 10% of net protocol revenue to the broader Arbitrum ecosystem under agreements. Eight percentage points go to Arbitrum DAO, while two support its developer guild funding program. Robinhood Chain recorded $6.04 million daily fees, retaining approximately $5.44 million after costs and sharing. Goldfeder argued that Robinhood can retain roughly 90% of its chain revenue under the Arbitrum Expansion Program. A Solana-based application would pay network fees without receiving the underlying chain’s revenue, he said. “Robinhood chose Arbitrum so they could be a landlord and not a tenant,” Goldfeder wrote. His comment responded to Yakovenko’s position that Robinhood could subsidize Solana t...