Robinhood Chain Launches With DeFi Push

Erebor Bank Eyes $8B Valuation | Paul Erlanger of Fomo

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
July 03, 2026

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Good Morning

Robinhood just made its clearest bet yet that the future of brokerage looks like DeFi, wrapping tokenized stocks, perps, and self-custody yield into one app while its core crypto business is bleeding revenue.

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In Today's Email:

What Matters: Robinhood Chain Launches With DeFi Push 👀
Founders Highlight: Paul Erlanger of Fomo👨
Deal Flows: Erebor Bank Eyes $8B Valuation💰️

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Narratives: TradFi-DeFi Fusion

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WHAT MATTERS

Robinhood Chain Launches With DeFi Push

State of play: Robinhood went live with Robinhood Chain and a wave of DeFi integrations, betting that bundling tokenized stocks, perps, and lending into one wallet can offset a crypto business that's shrinking fast.

Robinhood Chain is an Arbitrum based Layer 2 launching with Uniswap, Alchemy, BitGo, and Chainlink as day one partners.
New Stock Tokens let eligible non-US users trade 24/7 and use tokenized equities as DeFi collateral across 120+ countries.
Robinhood Wallet now offers Lighter perpetual futures, backed by an $11M LIT token commitment, though unavailable to US and UK users.
Robinhood Earn brings Morpho powered USDG lending at roughly 7% APY directly into the main app for US users.
The expansion follows a 10% workforce cut and a 47% year over year drop in crypto revenue to $134M.

Why it matters: Robinhood is betting that bundling self-custody yield and 24/7 tokenized assets into one wallet becomes the new standard for retail brokerage.

Our take: The timing looks defensive. Revenue is down 47% and headcount just got cut, so this reads more like an engagement reset than a DeFi conviction bet. Leaning on Morpho, Lighter, and Uniswap means Robinhood owns distribution, not tech.

For builders and investors: Gas subsidies and open DeFi primitives make Robinhood Chain worth watching for protocol distribution, but the Jersey based debt structure keeps Stock Tokens short of real equity exposure.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Paul Erlanger of Fomo

Intro: Paul Erlanger is the Co-Founder of Fomo, a social-first, cross-chain crypto trading platform designed to simplify buying and tracking tokens especially memecoins.

Previous background: Prior to Fomo, Paul served as Head of Business Development at dYdX, where he led business development and scaled the institutional trading program from 2021 to 2024.

Prior to that, he worked as a Private Credit Analyst at Deutsche Bank, structuring project financing and credit facilities for sustainable energy and battery systems.
He began his career as Co-Founder of Rogue Aerospace from 2017 to 2019.

The big idea: Paul is aiming to turn crypto trading into a social multiplayer game by stripping away all technical friction.

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INSIGHTS

Standard Chartered Sets $60 Morpho Target

Standard Chartered initiated coverage on Morpho with a $60 price target by end 2030, forecasting it will outperform both bitcoin and ether.

The bank projects MORPHO reaching $3.50 in 2026, $11 in 2027, $22 in 2028, $40 in 2029, and $60 by 2030.
The forecast assumes DeFi assets grow 37x by 2030, with Morpho Vaults pulling in TradFi linked capital.
Morpho Markets holds $5.5B in deposits while Morpho Vaults hold $4.3B, per the analysts.
Custody and distribution ties to Fireblocks, Anchorage, and Taurus support the bank's growth thesis.
Morpho traded above $2, meaning the $60 target implies roughly 2,787% upside.

DEAL FLOWS

Erebor Bank Eyes $8B Valuation

Deal flows slowed down this week - we saw $98M+ in deals 💼

Erebor Bank, the Peter Thiel backed crypto and defense startup, is in talks to raise funding at a valuation of at least $8B, roughly double its December level.

Deposits nearly quadrupled since March to $4.05B, up from $1.1B disclosed at the end of that month.
Erebor added nearly 400 customers over the past three months and expects profitability by year end.
The bank plans US dollar stablecoin deposits and payments, though crypto backed lending demand has run below expectations.
Erebor signed a non binding letter of intent with Banco de Venezuela for correspondent banking services.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has questioned whether political ties helped speed Erebor's national bank charter approval.

Deal flows in the past week:

Adjacent, $2.5M Pre-Seed Round
Techdollar, $3M Pre-Seed Round
Orthogonal, $4.3M Seed Round
Canopy, $8.5M Seed Round
Venice AI, $65M Series A Round
Extended, $12.5M Strategic Round
Astarter, Undisclosed $. Strategic Round
Kled AI, $3M Unknown Round

QUICK BITES

Avalanche Treasury stock plunges 73% since debut.
Kalshi,Polymarket's combined volume surges 75% to $45B.
Erebor Bank eyes $8B valuation as deposits nearly quadruple.
Securitize becomes first to debut shares on NYSE and onchain.
eToro leads $12.5M round in onchain perps exchange Extended.
Robinhood CEO says future of crypto is in real-world assets, not memecoins.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

EF’s read on the Etehreum’s Global Policy Strategy (GPS).
Mahone DeFi’s read on Aave and Monad’s Financial Layer.
William Mougayar’s read on This is How Ethereum Really Wins.

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