After going through multiple bull and bear cycles, I’ve become increasingly convinced of one thing: when it comes to public blockchains, technology is certainly important, but whether they have sustained support from corporate resources behind them is equally crucial in determining their potential.
Looking back, Coinbase built up Base, and Binance incubated BSC. Major players continuously channel traffic, use cases, and resources into these networks, giving them fertile ground for growth that ordinary public blockchains can hardly match. Following this logic, I’ve turned my attention to Robinhood Chain.
Today, let’s talk about four popular public blockchains—Solana, Sui, Base, and Robinhood Chain—and explore the opportunities and shortcomings of each.
I. Backing from Major Players Is a Significant Advantage for Public Blockchains
BSC continues to benefit from funding flowing through the Binance ecosystem, while Base is backed by Coinbase’s user base and compliance resources. The advantage of these blockchains isn’t simply their technical specifications; it’s that established companies continuously bring them users, use cases, and capital.
Robinhood Chain is following this same playbook. Robinhood is a well-known international retail brokerage with a large existing user base and a wealth of financial use cases. It has the potential to bring traditional finance users onto the blockchain, which is why I’m paying close attention to it.
Of course, backing from a major player doesn’t guarantee excess returns. Ultimately, it comes down to whether value can be passed on to participants.
II. A Comparative Look at Four Public Blockchains
Solana: An Established Leader with Greater Beta Exposure
After years of development, Solana’s ecosystem, developer community, and trading activity are all highly mature, and technical upgrades continue to roll out.
The upside is strong consensus and ample liquidity, making it less likely to lag when the market rallies.
Its limitations are also clear: most positive developments have already been fully priced in. It tends to deliver Beta returns that track the broader market, making an unexpected breakout relatively harder to achieve. It works well as a core portfolio holding, but is unlikely to be the dark horse with the biggest gap between expectations and reality.
Base: Backed by Coinbase, but Lacks a Token-Based Value Capture Mechanism
Base benefits from Coinbase’s compliance advantages and has seen impressive capital inflows; on-chain revenue can flow back to its parent company.
But it has one key issue: no native token. No matter how lively its on-chain ecosystem becomes, more of the growth benefits flow to the platform and its shareholders, making it difficult for ordinary participants to capture the chain’s growth directly through a token. The decline in user activity is also worth keeping an eye on.
Sui: Low Valuation, with Upside Potential Worth Watching
Sui is still relatively small overall, with a comparatively low valuation and strong capital efficiency. Combined with narratives around its ecosystem, its potential for an upward revaluation is worth watching.
Unlike Base and Robinhood Chain, it has a token system, so on-chain growth can translate into value through the token. It’s an option with “both risk and upside,” suited to a bet on a valuation recovery.
Robinhood Chain: The Blockchain with the Biggest Gap Between Expectations and Reality
This is the potential dark horse I’m most bullish on at this stage.
Since launch, on-chain trading data has grown rapidly, and ecosystem protocols have been joining one after another. Combined with Robinhood’s built-in retail finance user base, the potential is substantial.
But there’s one key point to be clear about: this chain currently has no native token. For now, the only way to share in its growth is through ecosystem projects or the parent company’s stock.
If a native token is launched in the future, the entire narrative could change dramatically. But until that happens, it remains only an expectation and is subject to uncertainty. Also, much of the early trading volume came from meme speculation, and the ability of real-world financial use cases to sustain activity over the long term still needs to be proven.
III. A Brief Overview of the Opportunity
Ranked by potential excess returns: Robinhood Chain (biggest gap between expectations and reality; a bet on future narratives) > Sui (strong upside from a low base) > Solana (mature and steady, benefits from broad market rallies) > Base (thriving ecosystem, but no token-based value capture channel)
In a nutshell:
Major players bring greater certainty to public blockchains, but a token’s value-capture mechanism is what makes excess returns possible.
In the next market cycle, established leaders will help stabilize portfolios, while true excess returns often come from sectors where expectations have yet to be fully priced in. Robinhood Chain is worth keeping an eye on.
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