Solana Co‑Founder Criticizes Robinhood Chain Fees as Excessive

Solana co‑founder Anatoly Yakovenko has publicly questioned the fee structure of Robinhood Chain, noting that the average transaction cost of roughly $0.40 is far above the cost of processing the same work on Solana.

Robinhood Chain Fee Landscape

Robinhood Chain launched on mainnet on July 1, 2026. The network runs on Arbitrum technology, settles to Ethereum and uses Ether (ETH) for gas. Recent data shows daily fees of $4.22 million across about 10.4 million transactions, resulting in an average fee near $0.40. The median fee is similar, placing Robinhood Chain at the top of a ranking of 27 chains with an average fee of $0.24.

Solana’s Cost Comparison

Solana charges a base fee of 5,000 lamports per signature. One SOL equals one billion lamports, and with SOL priced around $102, the fee translates to well under one cent per transaction.

Revenue Share with Arbitrum

Robinhood Chain’s licensing terms require a 10 % share of net revenue to be paid to Arbitrum, with 8 % going to the Arbitrum DAO treasury and 2 % to the Developer Guild. Yakovenko argues that this 10 % share could cover Solana‑level fees four times over, potentially allowing a gas‑free experience for users.

Industry Reactions

Gnosis co‑founder Martin Köppelmann highlighted that Robinhood Chain generates revenue rather than offering a free service, questioning the sustainability of its fee model. Yakovenko responded that typical front‑end applications charge 50–80 basis points, citing Uniswap as a busy network app.

Operational Issues

Robinhood Chain experienced a brief block‑production stall earlier in the week, yet users still incurred the $0.40 fee, raising concerns about who ultimately bears the cost—users, Ethereum for settlement, or Robinhood itself.