HOOD stock ($HOOD) jumped 8.4% to trade around $108 today following a major keynote event in London. Robinhood caught Wall Street’s attention by officially launching its own blockchain network, known as the Robinhood Chain, to the public.
To celebrate the launch, Robinhood pulled off an on-stage stunt where an artificial intelligence agent used a virtual credit card to complete the most purchases within three minutes, setting a brand-new Guinness World Record. The move highlights the big plans Robinhood has to let AI tools trade stocks, options, and crypto for users in the future.
Details of Robinhood’s New Blockchain
The newly launched Robinhood Chain is built using Arbitrum technology, which processes financial tasks off-chain before settling them directly onto the secure Ethereum network to keep transaction fees very low.
Instead of creating a custom cryptocurrency to run the network, Robinhood decided to use standard Ethereum (ETH-USD) to pay for transaction costs. The main goal of this new chain is to support tokenized real-world assets and financial services.
As part of the launch, eligible users across more than 120 countries can now use the Robinhood Wallet to trade tokenized stocks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The network is also launching with heavy support from major decentralized finance partners like Uniswap and Chainlink.
Robinhood’s Crypto Expansion Lifts Wall Street sentiment
Beyond international stock trading, Robinhood is also building out new ways for users to grow their crypto holdings.
Through a new partnership, Robinhood is letting eligible U.S. users lend out stablecoins to earn an estimated 7% annual yield. This major expansion into the digital asset space helped HOOD stock turn around cautious analyst reports from earlier this year that warned slow crypto trading volumes could drag the company down.
While investors reacted very favorably to the news today, the focus for Robinhood will now shift to how many developers and traders actually choose to use the network over the coming weeks.
Is HOOD Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on HOOD stock based on 16 Buys, three Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average 12-month HOOD price target of $105.17 per share implies 8.9% downside risk. (See HOOD stock forecast)
