Arbitrum and Robinhood Crypto open a second mentorship cohort for chain builders
The Arbitrum Foundation, with @RobinhoodCrypto, opened Cohort 2 of its Mentorship Program for early-stage teams building, or ready to build, on Arbitrum One and Robinhood Chain. The 12-week track offers mentor access, fundraising help, a Demo Day before an audience expected to include more than 50 investors, and $100,000 in prizes for top teams. Applications close 6 December 2026. Kickoff is planned for 5 January 2027 and Demo Day for 25 March 2027; dates can change. Teams need not already be live on those chains. Named session partners include Robinhood Chain, Pantera, Pendle, Paxos and Offchain Labs. Prizes depend on eligibility, KYC and a legal agreement. This desk did not apply.
Why it matters Robinhood Chain is still recruiting app teams. A founder who wants that user base, tokenized-asset rails or Arbitrum investor introductions can apply now. The cohort is a watchlist for what may ship on the chain in early 2027.
Robinhood Chain is Robinhood’s permissionless Ethereum Layer 2, built with Arbitrum technology, for tokenized stocks and other onchain finance. Arbitrum One is a separate Ethereum Layer 2 run by the Arbitrum ecosystem. The Foundation says Cohort 1 drew more than 900 applications, with ten teams at Demo Day, and that those teams later reported raising more than $10 million. Cohort 2 is framed around fundraising and execution: investment-readiness sessions, an internal Demo Day, and practical work on product, growth, partnerships, tokenomics, stablecoins, AI tooling and building on Robinhood Chain. Applicants are expected to show a prototype or early product, a committed founding team and a plan to launch or scale on Arbitrum One or Robinhood Chain. The Foundation says prizes are discretionary, may include exclusivity or milestones, and that sessions are educational rather than investment advice.
Tria adds Arc so users can move USDC onto a card or trading account
Tria is a consumer app for trading, spending, earning and travel. On 23 October @useTria said Circle’s Arc blockchain is live in the app. Users can send, receive and convert USDC on Arc, then use that balance to top up a Tria card or fund a trading account. The post does not name supported countries, conversion venues, fees or deposit limits. This desk did not send USDC or top up a card.
Why it matters Arc has been short on simple retail paths. A card and trading-account hook is something a holder can actually try, alongside the larger Extended perpetuals book that moved onto Arc a day earlier.
Arc is Circle’s blockchain for stablecoin payments, tokenized assets and onchain markets. Fees are paid in USDC. Tria describes itself as a single app for onchain finance in more than 150 countries. The 23 October post is Tria’s own claim that Arc USDC can now move inside that app and out to a card or trading balance. It does not document how the card is issued, whether every Tria user sees Arc, or how much has been transferred. Readers should confirm the network, fees and card terms in the app before sending funds.
Ethereum delays the Hoodi Glamsterdam test after gas-change security findings
Ethereum is the main smart-contract network. Glamsterdam is its next planned protocol upgrade. @chain_security said core developers delayed the Hoodi testnet activation because of security impacts it identified in new gas rules. The firm said it had found 13 live-contract examples and was disclosing them privately. The Ethereum Foundation said the Hoodi fork, previously set for 26 October 2026 at 17:42:48 UTC, is postponed with no replacement time, and that a planned Hoodi gas-limit rise to 200 million is also off. Hoodi node operators need client versions that remove that activation. The Foundation said mainnet users need take no action. This desk did not run a node.
Why it matters Hoodi was the last public rehearsal before a mainnet date. Teams with contracts that catch failed calls should review gas assumptions now. A later mainnet schedule depends on a new test date that has not been set.
Hoodi is Ethereum’s public test network used to rehearse hard forks. Glamsterdam already activated on the Sepolia testnet on 6 October 2026. ChainSecurity’s 13 October analysis covers EIP-8037 and EIP-8038. Those changes split state-creation gas into a separate pool and reprice storage. After a failed call, gas that was spent can be restored to the caller. A contract that records a failure and continues may now finish a path that previously ran out of gas and reverted, so a retryable error can be stored as final. The firm also warned that old gas budgets may be too small under the new schedule. Core developers took the delay on All Core Devs Execution call 248 on 22 October. The Foundation listed some client builds that drop the 26 October Hoodi schedule, including Lodestar v1.50.1, Besu 26.10.1 and Nethermind 2.2.1, and said operators should wait for notes that explicitly confirm the postponement. Affected protocol names were not published.
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@RobinhoodCrypto , opened Cohort 2 of its Mentorship Program for early-stage teams building, or ready to build, on Arbitrum One and Robinhood Chain. The 12-week track offers mentor access, fundraising help, a Demo Day before an audience expected to include more than 50 investors, and $100,000 in prizes for top teams. Applications close 6 December 2026. Kickoff is planned for 5 January 2027 and Demo Day for 25 March 2027; dates can change. Teams need not already be live on those chains. Named session partners include Robinhood Chain, Pantera, Pendle, Paxos and Offchain Labs. Prizes depend on eligibility, KYC and a legal agreement. This desk did not apply.
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