Arc Launches on Its First Day, Crypto Infrastructure Projects Celebrate, Is the Next Robinhood Chain Here?

Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Author | Wenser ( @wenser2010 )

The blockchain network Arc, under Circle, officially launched today. On its first day, numerous launchpad platform tokens such as ARGUS, TOLLY, and LONG, each with market capitalizations in the tens of millions of dollars, emerged, creating a buzz reminiscent of the "next Robinhood Chain". Matching the lively trading market scene, many infrastructure and application projects in the crypto space expressed their support for the Arc chain, including established projects like Pump.fun and Phantom Wallet. The co-founder of the popular trading app fomo had even announced prior to Arc's launch that they would provide support, creating a stark contrast to the quiet atmosphere during the Robinhood Chain launch two months ago. The reasons behind this phenomenon are more complex than one might think.

Arc Chain Mainnet Officially Launches on Its First Day, Crypto Infrastructure Projects Celebrate

As early as August 5, the Arc chain's official announcement previewed that the mainnet would launch on September 16, listing its validator nodes and numerous partners, including:

• Founding validator teams such as BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, SBI, and Visa;
• DeFi and liquidity partners including aave, GSR, Morpho, and Uniswap;
• Payment partners like raincards, ThunesPayments, and wirexapp;
• Exchange and wallet partners including Binance Wallet, Chainlink, Kraken, MetaMask, and Uniswap.

Recently, fomo's co-founder fulfilled their promise to provide trading support on Arc's launch day, which was officially announced by Arc. The established launchpad Pump.fun from the Solana ecosystem also stated this morning that it would support the Arc chain from day one, allowing users to seamlessly trade any tokens on the Arc chain with USDC, earn Callout rewards, and enjoy near-zero transaction fees. Phantom Wallet, TokenPocket Wallet, and Bitget Wallet followed suit.

The lively scene of numerous crypto projects congratulating the launch of the Arc chain and providing corresponding trading support sharply contrasts with the quiet atmosphere during the Robinhood Chain launch. The reasons behind this phenomenon include the follow-on effect, self-positioning, the companies behind the projects, and the ecological niche within the crypto market.

Four Reasons for Arc's Popularity: Robinhood Chain Effect, Network Positioning, Circle's Background, and Synergistic Effects

The attention and support for Arc can undoubtedly be attributed to the precedent set by Robinhood Chain.

Two months ago, when Robinhood Chain launched, the crypto market's attitude was rather indifferent. At that time, many viewed Robinhood Chain, branded as "another L2 network on Ethereum", as just another entry on the "failed Ethereum L2 networks" list. After all, aside from Base, which has some backing from Coinbase, Ethereum L2 networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Monad fell into a period of dormancy as Ethereum prices fluctuated downwards and market conditions cooled, with token prices and ecosystem activity hitting recent lows, leaving little expectation for Ethereum L2 networks.

However, Robinhood Chain quickly became a market focus due to its backing from the compliant brokerage platform Robinhood, stock token trading, and the subsequent emergence of meme coin trading, leading to increased on-chain ecosystem activity, trading volume, and user numbers.

With Arc backed by stablecoin issuer Circle, it is naturally expected to become the "next Robinhood Chain" due to its previous funding and strong support from traditional financial institutions, with insiders hoping Arc can replicate the growth miracle and wealth creation frenzy of its predecessor.

In terms of network positioning, unlike Robinhood Chain's focus on the "RWA assets + meme coin network" concept, Arc's official stance is centered on "global financial markets, real-time capital flow, and AI Agent-driven economic activities". In other words, Arc's positioning remains rooted in stablecoin networks, payment networks, financial market capital flow, and AI Agent economic activities, making it broader in scope and with a higher ceiling compared to Robinhood Chain's positioning and use cases.

From the project background perspective, for many infrastructure projects in the crypto market, aside from a few vested interests like Arbitrum and Uniswap, Robinhood and Robinhood Chain appear more like "barbarians at the gate". The market, users, trading volume, and transaction fee revenues they compete for primarily come from existing competitors. In contrast, Circle, as a stablecoin issuer, plays a role closer to that of an "insider", as its issuance of stablecoins is akin to supplying blood to the crypto market and expanding ecological influence, thus naturally garnering support from many infrastructure projects.

Lastly, from the synergistic effects perspective, Arc, as a stablecoin circulation network, can continuously bring more liquidity and users to various projects and infrastructure-level projects beyond just meme coins and stock tokenization trading. It operates in a certain incremental market and can create synergistic effects with various wallets, exchanges, and trading platforms.

As the crypto market finally welcomes a moment of incremental growth, crypto-native projects are eager to seize the opportunity and hop on Circle and Arc's new "era train", making their responsiveness and supportive attitude evident.

Currently, the narrative of meme coins breaking through on Arc's launch day indeed aligns closely with the leading tokens on Robinhood Chain, both being launchpad platform tokens and both emphasizing the "buyback and burn" concept. Whether they can carve out their own new highs and innovative gameplay remains to be seen with great anticipation.

The clash between Robinhood Chain and Arc has only just begun.