Robinhood-backed Arcus launches tokenized equities, derivatives
The Robinhood-backed decentralized exchange Arcus has launched tokenized stocks and perpetual futures, accelerating the race to bring traditional assets onchain despite barring users in major Western markets over regulatory uncertainty.
A decentralized exchange backed by Robinhood Crypto has introduced tokenized stocks and perpetual futures on Robinhood Chain. Arcus, built by the team behind the dYdX trading platform, launched the new markets on Tuesday, expanding beyond the spot crypto trading it debuted when Robinhood Chain went live on July 1.
The platform now offers more than 95 tokenized stocks, including Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Google and Amazon. Users can also trade perpetual futures tied to equities, exchange-traded funds, commodities, indexes, and digital assets. Paxos-issued stablecoin USDG serves as the primary collateral and settlement asset for these markets.
Arcus operates a self-custodial model, meaning traders retain direct control of their assets rather than surrendering them to a centralized exchange. To lower the technical barrier to entry, the platform integrates wallet infrastructure provider Privy, which allows account creation via email or social logins. Users can also connect existing Ethereum-compatible self-custodial wallets, including MetaMask, Ledger and WalletConnect.
Regulatory walls limit reach
Despite the technological expansion, Arcus’s stock tokens are unavailable in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other restricted jurisdictions. This geographic exclusion underscores the fundamental friction facing the tokenized real-world asset sector: blockchain-based representations of traditional securities do not yet fit neatly into established financial frameworks.
Regulators in major markets are actively scrutinizing how tokenized assets intersect with existing rules governing custody, ownership, and market structure. Until those questions are resolved, platforms like Arcus are effectively locked out of the world's largest capital markets.
For market professionals, the launch signals that the infrastructure race to bridge traditional finance and decentralized networks is intensifying. Coinbase-backed Base is similarly exploring ways to bring traditional financial products onchain. However, Arcus’s restricted access demonstrates that building the technology to tokenize equities is only half the battle; securing regulatory clearance to serve mainstream investors remains the defining challenge for the sector.
