Cross-chain transaction protocol Relay has claimed that buyers on Robinhood Chain, Robinhood’s permissionless Ethereum Layer 2, lost money after tokens they purchased disappeared from their wallets.
Relay highlighted the issue and said the money was gone, without promoting the tokens or saying why they disappeared from wallets.
The incidents were reportedly not wallet or private-key compromises. Keys and balances beyond the identified tokens remained untouched, it said. Relay is blocking tokens as they appear, verifying assets it deems safe, and reminding users that anyone can list a token.
Relay linked the losses to specific, likely dubious, token purchases on the Robinhood Chain. However, it did not say the trades went through Robinhood Wallet or suggest that brokerage accounts and other Robinhood products were affected.
Relay announced,
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. We’re blocking these tokens as they show up and verifying safe ones.
Relay did not publish the affected contract addresses or transactions, leaving the reported losses independently unverified.
Robinhood launched the permissionless public mainnet on July 1. The company says it serves nearly 28 million customers across 38 countries, though that figure reflects its companywide reach rather than the number of chain users or affected buyers.
The warning arrived during Robinhood Chain’s first surge in speculative trading. Decentralized exchange volume peaked near $400 million on July 7, and Pump.fun added trading for Robinhood Chain tokens on July 8.
Who blocks a token before the trade?
Open token creation allows developers to deploy contracts without Robinhood’s approval. Third-party tokens and liquidity can form around Robinhood’s brand without an app listing. Relay’s warning shifts the issue from which assets attract attention to what buyers see before they sign.
Relay operates a separate bridge and swap interface that supports Robinhood Chain. Robinhood Wallet’s own support page says its in-app swaps route through 0x API and LI.FI, and the interface used by the affected buyers remains unidentified.
0x says it supports tokens by default unless they are blocked for compliance reasons, while custom ERC-20 tokens become tradable once liquidity exists on a market the API sources. Relay says it screens transactions against sanctions and risk databases and maintains an internal blocklist.
Its warning said it was blocking the affected tokens and verifying others, but did not establish whether buyers saw a warning before signing or only after completing their purchases.
Robinhood’s general scam guidance covers malicious smart contracts, pump-and-dump schemes and rug pulls, and tells users to review transaction details before signing. The page does not explain what token screening, if any, occurs before an in-wallet swap or address tokens whose balances disappear after purchase.
The next test is how quickly warnings and blocklists move across trading interfaces, and whether a token removed from Relay remains available elsewhere. Relay’s post leaves the contract addresses, buyer count, total losses, and technical cause undisclosed. Users need an asset’s status before an irreversible purchase, when a warning can still change the outcome.
