Standard Chartered Sees ARB at $10 by 2030—TradFi's Favorite Layer-2, With Zero Revenue Perks for Holders 🎭

Standard Chartered initiated coverage of Arbitrum's $ARB token on Tuesday with a forecast that it will reach $10 by the end of 2030, roughly 70 times its recent level near 14 cents. The bank, which first published the call publicly earlier this month, framed Arbitrum as the preferred blockchain for traditional financial institutions moving assets on-chain. $ARB rose nearly 7% over 24 hours following the note, even as the broader cryptocurrency market declined.

Geoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered's global head of digital assets research, cited Arbitrum's role in helping firms including Robinhood build their own networks. "The recent Robinhood chain launch has demonstrated the potential for Arbitrum to become the number 1 choice for TradFi when bringing assets on-chain," Kendrick wrote. Robinhood Chain has lifted Arbitrum's estimated September monthly revenue run rate to roughly $5 million, more than five times its level before the chain debuted in July, Kendrick added.

Standard Chartered estimates the tokenized assets market could grow to $4 trillion by the end of 2028, up from about $340 billion currently. Robinhood Chain, which adopted the Arbitrum technology stack, paid about $360,000 in licensing fees in July, accounting for 35% of Arbitrum DAO income that month, and was generating $3.75 million in user fees by Sept. 1 while sending roughly $370,000 to Arbitrum over 24 hours. Under the arrangement, Robinhood Chain pays 10% of its net protocol revenue into the Arbitrum ecosystem, with 8% going to the DAO treasury and 2% to a developer fund.

Kendrick acknowledged that $ARB holders currently have no direct claim on that revenue, listing that limitation alongside slower-than-expected tokenization and competition from other blockchains among the key risks to the price target. Robinhood Chain's early activity has also come largely from memecoin launchpads and trading apps rather than the tokenized traditional assets underlying the longer-term thesis.