Robinhood’s Crypto Head Johann Kerbrat on Why Public Blockchains Will Win
The Defiant
by Camila RussoFebruary 11, 2026
Robinhood is opening the testnet for its Arbitrum-based Ethereum Layer 2. In this episode, we sit down with the fintech’s head of crypto, Johann Kerbrat, to discuss the strategic move to build on Ethereum. He believes institutions can get the privacy and compliance guarantees they need on public chains like Ethereum, so building on private chains doesn’t make sense as they are just a “fancy database.”
Kerbrat says he sees a future where most financial infrastructure and assets transact on public blockchains.
Topics:
Robinhood Layer 2 Launch
Tokenized Stocks & Real-World Assets
The "Adapt or Die" moment for Banks
Self-Custody vs. Platform Safety
Verticals
cryptodefi
Originally published on The Defiant on 2/11/2026