Daily activity is 10 million but only 10 million assets. Who wins in the brokerage chain or exchange?

According to Woofun AI, the crypto market is showing a two-track expansion pattern where brokerage firms enter the public chain and exchanges shift to RWA. Robinhood (HOOD.US)'s aggressive layout and leading CEX's asset tokenization strategy actually all point to competition for the next generation of trading entrances.

Less than two weeks after its launch, Robinhood Chain showed amazing explosive power. The cumulative DEX transaction volume exceeded 3.98 billion US dollars, ranking second only to Solana (HSDT.US) in single-day trading volume, second only to Solana (HSDT.US). On the Ethereum L2 circuit, it has 10.4 million transactions in a single day, even surpassing Base, which has been online for a long time.

According to data compiled by Woofun AI, the number of active addresses in the chain surged several times within a week, accounting for more than 45% of new addresses, proving that traffic mainly comes from the incremental market rather than stock consumption. However, the core underpinning this popularity is not the officially promoted RWA narrative, but Meme speculation. Such tokens contribute nearly 50% of the entire chain's trading volume. Under the sign of prosperity, risks are being exposed. A large number of “buy and disappear” honeypot tokens have appeared on the cross-chain platform Relay warning chain, malicious contracts bypass security checks and directly transfer funds, and multiple projects have associated address cluster controls. The harsher reality is that the current market value of active real assets in the entire chain is only about US$12.5 million, and the speed of real asset implementation lags far behind the popularity of speculation.

At the same time, crypto exchanges are collectively moving towards “de-encryption,” and tokenized assets are becoming a new growth engine. According to CryptoRank data, in the first half of 2026, tokenized assets accounted for nearly one-fifth of the newly listed assets on exchanges, while in 2025 they accounted for less than 7%. Overall, the volume of new assets declined for two consecutive quarters during the same period. In terms of transaction volume, the benefits of entering this circuit are remarkable, and the acceptance of users linked to traditional assets is extremely high. In June, CEX's real-asset perpetual futures trading volume reached US$31.1 billion, up 57% month-on-month to a record high. The global tokenized stock market grew by more than 470% in the past year, with monthly on-chain transfers reaching $8.4 billion. However, such products generally have inherent shortcomings. Most of them are synthetic derivatives or debentures, and users do not enjoy real shareholder rights. Due to regulatory restrictions, these products are basically not open to American users, which means it is difficult to enter the core market. This also raises a key question: Why do US retail investors need to obtain such assets through cryptographic channels?

From a short-term perspective, CEX's asset-light model has indeed run faster, and the volume of derivatives has formed a scale advantage. However, when looking at the lengthening cycle, the momentum of licensed brokerage firms such as Robinhood is likely to be even stronger. The core of the financial business is asset authenticity and compliance qualifications. Robinhood has a complete brokerage license, and its RWA assets have a real underlying foundation. Once a securities account and public chain wallet are opened, it will form a user experience that cannot be replicated by the exchange.

Although both are currently expanding within their comfort zones, Robinhood has taken a significant lead. If other brokerage firms follow suit, the market may usher in another dimension of competition. At that time, CEX's response strategy will become a key variable.