Side by side
Arcus vs Lighter
Arcus and Lighter both operate in the Perps & Derivatives part of the Robinhood Chain ecosystem. Arcus — dYdX Labs and Robinhood Crypto's 24/7 DEX for tokenized stocks and RWA perps, zero fees, non-US.. Lighter — The chain's official perps venue — a zero-fee ZK order-book DEX, USDG-collateralized, valued at ~$1.5B..
Arcusmainnet
dYdX Labs and Robinhood Crypto's 24/7 DEX for tokenized stocks and RWA perps, zero fees, non-US.
- What it is
- A decentralized exchange pairing tokenized-stock spot with RWA perpetuals, built jointly by dYdX Labs and Robinhood Crypto, live on Robinhood Chain since 1 July 2026.
- What is live
- Zero-fee spot trading across 95 Stock Tokens is live now. Perpetuals covering 35 RWA markets remain in a waitlist phase.
- Who runs it
- CEO Eddie Zhang, whose startup Pocket Protector was acquired by dYdX Labs; dYdX founder Antonio Juliano joins the Arcus board. dYdX received investment from Robinhood Crypto.
- TVL
- Roughly $5.6m on Robinhood Chain (DefiLlama), early July 2026, spanning ~$2.5m 24h spot and ~$1.9m 24h perp with ~$900k open interest per the briefing.
Lightermainnet
The chain's official perps venue — a zero-fee ZK order-book DEX, USDG-collateralized, valued at ~$1.5B.
- What it is
- A zero-fee perpetual-futures DEX built on custom ZK infrastructure — an application-specific ZK-rollup anchored to Ethereum that proves order matching, funding, and liquidations before settlement.
- Role on the chain
- The official perpetuals trading partner for Robinhood Chain; eligible users trade perps through Robinhood Wallet with USDG as collateral and quote asset.
- Founder
- Vladimir Novakovski, a former Citadel engineer.
- Funding
- Raised $68m in November 2025 at a ~$1.5bn valuation, led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, with Haun Ventures, Dragonfly, Craft Ventures, and Robinhood participating.
The record
How they compare
| Field | Arcus | Lighter |
|---|---|---|
| Type | defi | defi |
| Category | Perps & Derivatives | Perps & Derivatives |
| Status | mainnet | mainnet |
| Chains | Robinhood Chain | Robinhood Chain, Ethereum |
| Website | — | Yes |
| Docs | Yes | Yes |
| GitHub | — | — |
| Confidence | 84% | 82% |
| Sources | 4 | 5 |
| Arcus TVL | $17.7M | — |
| Stock tokens listed | 95 | — |
| Reported valuation | — | $1.5B |
Read on
Answers
Arcus vs Lighter: questions
- What is the difference between Arcus and Lighter on Robinhood Chain?
- Arcus is dYdX Labs and Robinhood Crypto's 24/7 DEX for tokenized stocks and RWA perps, zero fees, non-US.. Lighter is The chain's official perps venue — a zero-fee ZK order-book DEX, USDG-collateralized, valued at ~$1.5B.. Both sit in the Perps & Derivatives part of the Robinhood Chain ecosystem.
- Is Arcus or Lighter live on Robinhood Chain?
- Both are live on Robinhood Chain mainnet. Arcus is mainnet and Lighter is mainnet.
- Should I choose Arcus or Lighter?
- It depends on your use case — both serve the Perps & Derivatives role on Robinhood Chain. Compare them on type, status, chains, integrations and source-backed confidence (Arcus: 84%, Lighter: 82%), then read each full profile before deciding.