Morning Minute: Robinhood Debuts ‘Robinhood Chain’

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analyzes and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And cdamn our new daily news show with all the top stories in 5 minutes, available for download on Apple Pod or Spotify.

GM!

Today’s most important news:

• Crypto majors are very green as SOL rises 10%; BTC +5% to $61.3k
• Venice AI announces a $65 million raise at a $1 billion valuation, creating crypto’s newest unicorn
• Robinhood launches Robinhood Chain with focus on tokenized stocks, lighter offenders
• Lighter’s LIT jumps 15% to new local highs after Robinhood launch
• Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire responds to OUSD, saying consortium stablecoins have a poor track record

🏦 Robinhood launches an ‘AI-Native’ Ethereum Layer-2 with tokenized shares

Robinhood launched the public mainnet of Robinhood Chain, an Arbitrum-powered Ethereum layer-2. The company is touting its new chain as “AI-native,” meaning it supports commerce by AI agents directly on the chain.

Opened with integrations from BitGo and Chainlink and partnerships with Uniswap and Pleiades for market making, the network is designed to bridge Robinhood’s traditional brokerage with its crypto stack.

The centerpiece is Stock Tokens, onchain versions of shares in companies like Nvidia and Apple. On Robinhood Chain, users can place these tokenized shares into lending pools and use them as collateral in DeFi. That turns an equity position into compoundable on-chain capital, something that is impossible within a normal brokerage. Robinhood also opened perps trading directly in its wallet through the decentralized erp dex Lighter, and enabled Robinhood Earn for eligible US users, allowing them to lend the USDG stablecoin for around 7% APY.

HOOD shares closed up more than 8% to $108.65, up nearly 20% on the month but still well below their all-time highs. Lighter’s LIT token rose 15% to $2.14 and new local highs following their integration.

💸 Venice AI reaches $1 billion valuation as Voorhees bets on Private AI

Erik Voorhees’ privacy-focused AI platform Venice AI has raised $65 million at a $1 billion valuationthe first round of external funding and enough to turn it into a unicorn just two years after launch. The round was led by crypto VC Dragonfly, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and North Island Ventures.

Voorhees said the increase validates Venice’s mission to build a private, uncensored alternative to mainstream AI like ChatGPT. For those unfamiliar, Venice gives users access to over 200 open and closed AI models for text, images, video, and code, while storing nothing on its own servers. Prompts are encrypted on the client side and routed through an external proxy.

It has passed 3 million users, handles 1.7 million API calls per day and is already profitable with around $70 million in annual revenue, which is rare for an AI startup at this stage. The new capital will go toward buying GPUs and building its own data centers to reduce dependence on leased computing power and increase margins.

The VVV token rose 10% that day to $13.50 and an FDV of $1 billion, which matches the company’s valuation. As for how to think about the VVV token versus the company’s equity – that’s a conversation for another time…

🌎 Macrocrypto and markets

• Crypto majors are very green, with SOL leading the way; BTC +5% to $61.3k; ETH +5% at $1,650; SOL +10% for $82; HYPE +4% for $64.90
• DEFEAT (+20%)ZEC (+14%) and VVV (+11%)
• Oil -1.5% at $67.50; Gold -0.3% at $4,070
• Stock futures are slightly mixed; DOW +0.2%, Nasdaq -0.4%
• Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire responded to the launch of Open USDarguing that USDC’s decade-long liquidity and network moats are too deep to copy and that consortium stablecoins have a “dismal” track record
• A new institutionally focused Ethereum non-profit launched with support from Joe Lubin, BitMine and SharpLink, the second Ethereum initiative from the same trio in recent weeks
• Cantor Fitzgerald Analysts we see a potential bottom emerging for the crypto market in the coming months, pointing to the cycle and urging investors to focus on networks with sustainable value building
• Standard chartered announced a partnership with Circle to give their institutional clients access to USDC

Corporate bonds and ETFs

Meme coin tracker

• Meme leaders were very green; DOGE +4%, SHIB +2%, PEPE +7%, PENGU +5%, TRUMP even, BONK +6%
• ANSEM (+24%), World (+200%) and Birb (+64%) led the movers on Solana
• Basic movers including SERV (+44%) and POD (+20%)

📈 Numerous markets of the day

💰 Token, airdrop and protocol tracker

🚚 What’s happening in NFTs?

• NFT Leaders were mixed Punks -1% at 31 ETH, BAYC +1% at 8.82 ETH, Pudgy -1% at 4.45 ETH; Hypurr’s -3% on 217 HYPE
• Unlimited (+25%) and GHLFers (+7%) top movers