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DYDXOn July 2, dYdX Labs partnered with Robinhood Crypto to launch Arcus, a next-generation decentralized exchange (DEX) that combines tokenized stock trading and perpetual futures on the Robinhood Chain – a Layer 2 blockchain compatible with EVM, built to serve Real World Assets (RWA) and decentralized financial applications. The announcement was made by dYdX founder Antonio Juliano on platform X on July 2, right after Robinhood launched the mainnet for Robinhood Chain.
Upon launch, Arcus opened spot trading for 95 tokenized stocks, allowing users to buy and sell these assets at any time of the day instead of being limited to the trading hours of traditional stock markets. This is a significant advantage for global investors, especially those living outside the operating hours of U.S. stock exchanges.
Additionally, Arcus is preparing to launch a perpetual futures market for 35 types of Real World Assets. However, this feature is currently only open for a waitlist and does not have an official release date yet.
According to dYdX Labs, Arcus operates on the Robinhood Chain, a Layer 2 blockchain that Robinhood publicly launched on the same day. Choosing Robinhood Chain allows the platform to leverage fast transaction processing, low costs, and compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem through the EVM standard.
Notably, Eddie Zhang, founder of the trading startup Pocket Protector – a company previously acquired by dYdX Labs – will serve as the CEO of Arcus. Meanwhile, Antonio Juliano will join the project’s Board of Directors to guide long-term development strategies.
Tokenized stocks do not equate to ownership rights
According to dYdX Labs, the tokenized stocks on Arcus do not represent direct ownership of the listed company’s shares. Instead, token holders only receive economic benefits under a contract, reflecting the price fluctuations of the underlying stock. This model is similar to the tokenization mechanism that Robinhood is applying across the entire Robinhood Chain.
This means investors can benefit or incur losses based on the stock price movements, but will not have shareholder rights such as voting at shareholder meetings or receiving physical shares.
dYdX Chain remains independent
dYdX Labs also emphasized that the launch of Arcus does not affect dYdX Chain v4, the specialized blockchain of the dYdX protocol built on the Cosmos ecosystem. All assets, trading positions, and current activities on dYdX Chain will continue to operate normally. Arcus is seen as an additional product to expand dYdX’s scope into the trading of real assets and tokenized stocks.
According to the latest data from DefiLlama, the total value locked (TVL) on dYdX currently reaches approximately $92.4 million, while the DYDX token is trading around $0.145.
The dYdX community will be prioritized for Arcus tokens in the future
Alongside the platform launch, dYdX Labs also revealed plans to issue Arcus tokens in the future. According to the announcement, a portion of the token supply will be prioritized for those who have previously traded, staked, or participated as validators on dYdX, rather than solely focusing on attracting new users.
Currently, the development team has not announced the release date for Arcus tokens or the official opening date for the perpetual futures market for real assets.
