Robinhood Chain Scam Tokens Vanish From Buyer Wallets

The warning landed at 15:44 UTC. It pointed to a growing wave of malicious tokens on Robinhood’s new Ethereum Layer 2. According to Relay, buyers swap ETH or stablecoins for a token. The trade confirms. Then the token leaves the wallet in the same transaction or the next one.

What Relay Warned About

Relay Protocol powers bridging and swaps into Robinhood Chain. So scam tokens trading through its interfaces put its users at risk. Because of that exposure, the team posted a public alert. It also started blocking tokens as they surface.

In its statement, Relay said the pattern is not a wallet hack. Only the scam-token purchase itself is at risk. Private keys and other balances stay untouched. That distinction matters for anyone who bought one and fears wider theft.

Relay wrote: “We’re aware of reports of tokens disappearing from wallets after purchase on Robinhood Chain. There’s been an increase in scam tokens designed to remove themselves after purchase. If you bought one, the funds you spent are unfortunately gone.” You can read the full Relay Protocol thread on X.

So far, neither Relay nor Robinhood has published a figure for affected wallets or losses. As of July 9, the totals remain unquantified.

How the Robinhood Chain Scam Tokens Work

These are malicious ERC-20 contracts, not a flaw in the chain itself. One documented variant hides a secret storage mapping inside the token’s transferFrom function, according to community reverse-engineers.

Here is the trick. A privileged, attacker-controlled address holds a value in that hidden mapping. That value bypasses the normal allowance check. As a result, the attacker can pull tokens from any holder without approval.

The buy succeeds first, which is what lures victims in. Then a follow-on transfer drains the token straight to the deployer. Other variants use honeypot logic instead. The token buys fine, but every attempt to sell reverts or taxes the seller to zero.

On-chain evidence sits in plain sight on the Robinhood Chain block explorer. Community members have flagged several user-reported contracts. One is dubbed World, at 0x0225…37AF. Another is a honeypot called RIALTO, at 0xefd3…faa9. Security account @ninja_dev3 from QuickIntel is among those tracing the mechanics.

Why a Permissionless Chain Draws Scammers

Robinhood Chain is permissionless by design. Anyone can deploy any contract and list it on public DEX interfaces. No central review stands in the way. That openness is the point, yet it removes the gatekeeper that would block a drainer.

The chain went from public testnet on February 10 to public mainnet on July 1. It runs on Arbitrum’s Orbit infrastructure. Since launch, thousands of tokens have appeared daily. Meme trading has dominated activity.

This pattern is not new. Solana, Base, and early Ethereum all drew a rush of honeypots at their peaks. Cheap deployment and open listing reward opportunistic actors. Robinhood Chain simply added a trusted brand to the same conditions.

The Numbers Behind the Launch

Trading has stayed heavy despite the risk. On July 8, DEX volume on Robinhood Chain hit a record near $560 million in one day. On-chain trackers reported the figure.

Activity was broad too. Roughly 193,000 addresses were active that day. Many belonged to first-time users. Total value locked estimates ranged from about $36 million to $80 million, depending on the snapshot.

HOOD stock climbed after the launch. Shares rose more than 8% around July 1. They traded near $112 on July 9. No price drop has clearly tracked the scam reports yet. Still, the incident is only hours old, so its market effect stays unclear.

Who Is to Blame

The reaction split fast. Some users blame Robinhood for shipping a permissionless chain without stronger verification. Others call it plain user error. They urge people to check contracts first.

Both camps agree on one thing. Relay’s framing holds, and this is not an infrastructure breach. Still, critics argue that a mainstream brand carries a higher duty. In their view, it should filter obvious drainers before retail money moves.

Robinhood, led by CEO Vlad Tenev, has not commented on the Robinhood Chain scam tokens. It has said nothing about refunds as of July 9. So the accountability question stays open for now.

How Buyers Can Protect Themselves

Caution is the only real defense on a chain this young. Relay urged users to stick to tokens it has verified. Tokens cleared by another trusted source also work. Remember, anyone can list a token here.

Before buying, check the contract on the block explorer. Then run it through a token scanner for hidden transfer logic. If a token blocks a clean sell, treat that as a red flag and walk away.

Relay says it will keep blocking scam tokens and verifying safe ones. Even so, the blocklist will always trail the deployers on a permissionless network. So buyer diligence stays the last line of defense. This article is informational only and not financial advice.