Arcus, a decentralized exchange built by the team behind dYdX and backed by Robinhood Crypto, has launched tokenized stocks and perpetual futures on Robinhood Chain, adding a significant layer to the platform that first went live with spot markets on July 1.
What Arcus Now Offers
The expanded platform gives users access to more than 95 stock tokens, perpetual markets, and crypto assets through a self-custodial trading account. Paxos-issued stablecoin USDG serves as the primary collateral and settlement asset across all markets.
Tokenized versions of shares in major US companies are now tradeable on the platform, including Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Amazon. Perpetual markets extend beyond equities to cover exchange-traded funds, commodities, indexes, and crypto assets.
Self-Custody at the Core
Arcus uses a self-custodial model, meaning users retain direct control of their assets rather than depositing them with a centralized intermediary. New users can sign up via email or social login through Privy, a wallet infrastructure provider that creates and manages crypto wallets for applications. Existing crypto holders can connect wallets already in use, including MetaMask, Ledger, and WalletConnect, with support for additional Ethereum-compatible wallets also cited by the company.
Geo-Restrictions Signal Regulatory Complexity
Arcus has confirmed that its stock tokens are unavailable to users in the US, Canada, the UK, and other restricted jurisdictions. The company did not respond to a request for clarification on those restrictions before publication.
Regulators in the US and UK have been actively examining how blockchain-based representations of traditional financial assets sit within existing legal frameworks, with questions around custody, ownership, and market structure still being worked through across multiple jurisdictions.
Growing Race for Tokenized Asset Infrastructure
The Arcus launch arrives as a growing number of crypto platforms push to build onchain markets for real-world assets. Coinbase-backed Base has also been exploring tokenized equities, adding to a crowded field competing to bring traditional financial products to blockchain rails.
