CASHCAT surges nearly 2,000%: A roundup of Robinhood's key protocols

Tao Zhu, Jinse Finance

Summary: Recently, a Meme coin on Robinhood Chain has become popular again. According to CoinGecko data, as of press time, CASHCAT surged nearly 2000%. The important protocol price on Robinhood Chain rose 1923.5% in 7 days, peaking near $0.15 and currently trading at $0.1067 as of press time.

This article focuses on CASHCAT and takes stock of the important protocols on Robinhood Chain.

I. The Hot CASHCAT on Robinhood Chain

On July 1, Robinhood Chain officially launched its public mainnet. Its core positioning is RWA and tokenized trading of U.S. stocks. The first batch launched over 200 tokens corresponding to U.S. stocks and ETFs, and announced that DeFi protocols including Uniswap and 1inch would be deployed simultaneously on the ecosystem. On the same day, Robinhood announced its entry into the Canadian market, obtained an MAS license in Singapore, and plans to launch an AI agent trading feature in the U.S.

For details, see: "The Launch of Robinhood Chain: Understanding the Ambition Behind Robinhood's All-In On-Chain Finance"

However, the Meme coin CASHCAT within the Robinhood Chain ecosystem has become the market focus first.

The rapid rise of CASHCAT is related to factors such as Robinhood's entrepreneurial history and the remarks of Robinhood's CEO.

According to an article published by The New Yorker in 2021 titled "The Big Bet on Robinhood," it was revealed: When Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt transformed Chronos (the high-frequency trading software they built) into a free stock trading app for millennials, the team initially called the project "CashCat." The name was inspired by Baiju Bhatt's love for cats and his severe cat allergy. Later, the team abandoned CashCat and ultimately adopted the more mission-driven brand name "Robinhood." Although CashCat was abandoned, it resurfaced prominently after five years.

In addition, on July 8, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev posted on X platform: "We are building the best RWA blockchain, but it is also suitable for Meme projects."

Although the X post did not directly mention CASHCAT, the timing of the post coincided with the surge of CASHCAT, and the market generally regarded it as Vlad Tenev's statement on the Meme ecosystem, further increasing CASHCAT's popularity.

II. What Other Important Protocols Are on Robinhood Chain?

According to DeFiLlama data, as of press time, Robinhood Chain's TVL has reached $75.12 million, up 60.4% in 24 hours. The stablecoin market cap on the chain has reached $268 million, with 24-hour DEX trading volume exceeding $410 million. From the TVL curve, since the mainnet launch, Robinhood Chain's locked value has shown a stepped increase, indicating continuous capital inflow into its DeFi ecosystem.

1. Morpho Blue

Morpho is currently one of the DeFi lending protocols with the largest TVL, featuring: permissionless lending, customizable markets, Morpho vaults, non-custodial, etc. Robinhood did not redevelop a lending protocol but directly adopted Morpho as the ecosystem's lending layer. Robinhood also stated in its official introduction of Robinhood Chain: "Robinhood Chain will provide out-of-the-box DeFi primitives, where Lending & Borrowing is powered by Morpho."

On July 1, when Robinhood announced the launch of Robinhood Earn, the announcement explicitly stated that its underlying lending infrastructure is based on the Morpho protocol and supported by industry-leading partners such as Steakhouse, Ethena, Spark, and Maple. Morpho is not just a protocol on Robinhood Chain; it has become the core infrastructure of Robinhood Earn.

According to DeFiLlama data, as of press time, Morpho Blue's TVL is $6.98B, with active loan volume reaching $3.76 billion and annualized fees of approximately $216 million. From the historical trend, Morpho Blue's TVL has grown rapidly since 2024, consistently staying above $7 billion, and has grown into one of the largest protocols in the current DeFi lending track.

2. Lighter

Lighter is one of the first integrated perpetual contract protocols on Robinhood Chain.

According to CoinGecko data, Lighter's 24-hour trading volume is $1.29B, down 8.7%; 24-hour open interest is $871 million.

Lighter focuses on providing low-latency, high-performance on-chain derivatives trading. Unlike traditional perpetual protocols that use automated market makers (AMM), Lighter adopts a central limit order book (CLOB) model, supporting limit orders, real-time matching, and a trading experience closer to centralized exchanges, making it more suitable for professional traders for high-frequency and large-volume trading. All trades on Lighter are settled on-chain via smart contracts, and users always maintain self-custody of assets without needing to entrust funds to a centralized platform. Currently, the protocol mainly offers perpetual contract trading for crypto assets such as BTC and ETH, and supports derivative functions like leverage trading, funding rate settlement, and automatic liquidation.

On July 1, Robinhood announced the launch of the Robinhood Chain mainnet and next-generation DeFi products, stating that Robinhood Wallet has natively integrated Lighter. Users in eligible regions can directly access Lighter within Robinhood Wallet to trade crypto asset perpetual contracts without switching to third-party applications. All trades are settled on-chain through Lighter's smart contracts. Robinhood Wallet only provides wallet management and trading entry, with user assets always remaining self-custodial.

3. Uniswap

On July 1, with the launch of the Robinhood Chain mainnet, Uniswap became one of the first ecosystem partners. According to Robinhood's official announcement, Uniswap will deploy a dedicated automated market maker on Robinhood Chain, serving as the main public liquidity protocol on the chain, providing spot trading and liquidity support for assets such as tokenized stocks in Robinhood Wallet. At the same time, Robinhood Wallet users can directly exchange tokens, provide liquidity, and participate in the Robinhood Chain ecosystem through Uniswap, further promoting the integration of traditional financial assets and DeFi.

According to DeFiLlama data, as of press time, Uniswap's TVL is $3.01B, with DEX trading volume over the past 30 days reaching $36.51 billion, annualized fees of approximately $844 million, and annualized protocol revenue of approximately $48.02 million. From the historical trend, Uniswap's TVL grew rapidly after the DeFi Summer of 2020 and reached an all-time high of nearly $10 billion in 2021. It has since declined but has remained stable between $3 billion and $6 billion since 2023. As a leading decentralized trading protocol, Uniswap continues to maintain strong market activity and liquidity.

4. dYdX Labs

On July 2, dYdX Labs announced the launch of Arcus, a decentralized exchange based on Robinhood Chain, supporting 24/7 trading of 95 stock tokens, equity perpetual contracts, and major cryptocurrencies, with zero fees for spot trading of stock tokens.

For details, see: "dYdX Joins Forces with Robinhood to Launch Arcus: Will dYdX Be 'Abandoned'?"

According to DeFiLlama data, as of press time, Arcus's TVL has not been disclosed. Since its inception, the DEX trading volume is approximately $239.1k, perpetual contract trading volume is approximately $1.05 million, and current open interest is approximately $234.2k. Compared with leading DeFi protocols, Arcus is still in the early stage of development.

5. Meridian Predict

Meridian Predict is a decentralized prediction market based on USDe, allowing users to bet on cryptocurrency, macroeconomic, and geopolitical events. The platform settles entirely in USDe, with no trading restrictions or whitelists. In addition to prediction markets, Meridian also supports RWA perpetual contracts and other perpetual contract instruments, as well as other core DeFi primitives.

According to DeFiLlama data, as of press time, Meridian Predict's TVL is $105.4k, with DEX trading volume over the past 30 days reaching $20.6k and annualized fees of $0. Meridian Predict is still in the early stage of development.

6. AEON Protocol

AEON Protocol is one of the native DEXs on Robinhood Chain, using a ve(3,3) mechanism design that determines liquidity incentives through governance voting. According to DeFiLlama data, as of press time, AEON Protocol's TVL is $756.9k.

7. Hoodbets

Hoodbets is positioned as a prediction market, supporting the creation of prediction pools around events such as stock prices. According to DeFiLlama data, as of press time, Hoodbets' TVL is $748.7k.

8. Sheriff V2

Sheriff V2 is an AMM DEX deployed on Robinhood Chain, currently still in the early stage of the Robinhood Chain ecosystem. According to DeFiLlama data, as of press time, Sheriff V2's TVL is $493.2k.