Arcus launches on Robinhood Chain with tokenized stocks and perpetual futures

Arcus, a new exchange developed by the team behind dYdX, launched on July 1 on the Robinhood Chain, a Layer-2 network utilizing Arbitrum Orbit technology. The platform enables 24/7 trading of 95 tokenized stocks and 35 real-world asset perpetual futures with up to 50x leverage. In its first week of operation, Arcus processed nearly 285,000 transactions, achieving $33 million in trading volume and $15 million in total value locked. A key feature of the platform is its composability, allowing users to utilize tokenized stocks as collateral for leveraged perpetual positions within a self-custodial environment. While the exchange is accessible in over 120 countries, it explicitly excludes users in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to mitigate regulatory risks. Led by CEO Eddie Zhang with dYdX founder Antonio Juliano on the board, the project operates independently from the dYdX v4 Chain. The upcoming launch of the ARCUS governance token remains a focal point for the community, with potential allocations reserved for existing dYdX token holders. This development highlights the growing trend of integrating traditional equity markets with DeFi infrastructure to eliminate settlement delays and intermediary reliance.