# Arcus

*dYdX Labs and Robinhood Crypto's 24/7 DEX for tokenized stocks and RWA perps, zero fees, non-US.*

Arcus is the most strategically interesting app on Robinhood Chain because of who built it and why. It is a decentralized exchange from dYdX Labs, built jointly with Robinhood Crypto, that pairs 24/7 tokenized-stock spot with real-world-asset perpetuals — and it is, fairly openly, dYdX's pivot. dYdX spent years as a crypto-perps venue; Arcus points that same order-book and matching expertise at tokenized equities on a distribution partner's chain, run by CEO Eddie Zhang (whose startup Pocket Protector was acquired by dYdX Labs) with founder Antonio Juliano joining the board. At launch on 1 July 2026, zero-fee spot across 95 Stock Tokens is live; the more ambitious half — perpetuals on 35 RWA markets — is waitlisted, which is the honest status to report rather than treating perps as shipped. The design bet is sharp: give non-US users something a brokerage cannot, an equity that trades at 3am and can be paired against a perp, with no trading fee. The constraints are equally sharp. Arcus is unavailable in the US, Canada, the UK, and other jurisdictions, so like Stock Tokens themselves it excludes large markets; a future Arcus token is promised with allocation reserved for the dYdX community, which is a retention play for a token that has struggled; and zero fees are a customer-acquisition posture, not a business model, so the question is what monetizes later. Read Arcus as a credible, well-staffed attempt to build the native trading venue for tokenized equities — with real product live today, its headline perps feature still behind a waitlist, and its addressable market capped by the same non-US rules that define the asset class.

## At a glance

- **Type:** defi
- **Category:** perps-derivatives
- **Status:** mainnet

## Key facts

- **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. _(confidence 88%)_
- **What is live:** Zero-fee spot trading across 95 Stock Tokens is live now. Perpetuals covering 35 RWA markets remain in a waitlist phase. _(confidence 85%)_
- **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. _(confidence 85%)_
- **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. _(confidence 72%)_
- **Token plan:** A future Arcus token is planned, with allocation reserved for the existing dYdX community — traders, stakers, and validators prioritized over new entrants. _(confidence 80%)_
- **Availability:** Not available in the US, Canada, the UK, or other restricted jurisdictions. _(confidence 82%)_

## Metrics

- **Arcus TVL:** $17.6M
- **Stock tokens listed:** 95

## Related entities

- [Lighter](https://hoodl2.com/entity/lighter) — competes with
- [Robinhood](https://hoodl2.com/entity/robinhood) — partners
- [Robinhood Chain](https://hoodl2.com/entity/robinhood-chain) — builds on
- [Stock Tokens](https://hoodl2.com/entity/stock-tokens) — integrates
- [Stock Tokens](https://hoodl2.com/entity/stock-tokens) — integrates
- [Lighter](https://hoodl2.com/entity/lighter) — competes with

## Sources

1. [A New Arc — Arcus on Robinhood Chain](https://www.dydx.xyz/blog/a-new-arc) — dYdX
2. [dYdX Launches Arcus, a DEX Pairing Stock Tokens With Perpetuals on Robinhood Chain](https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/dydx-launches-arcus-dex-stock-tokens-perpetuals-robinhood-chain) — The Defiant
3. [Arcus goes live after year-long development with dYdX team](https://cryptobriefing.com/arcus-dex-launch-dydx-robinhood/) — Crypto Briefing
4. [The DEX Arcus developed by the dYdX team launched on Robinhood Chain with Robinhood Crypto investment](https://www.chaincatcher.com/en/article/2274545) — ChainCatcher

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Last reviewed: 13 Jul 2026  
Canonical: https://hoodl2.com/entity/arcus  
Source: HoodL2 (https://hoodl2.com) — an independent, sourced reference for the Robinhood Chain ecosystem. Not affiliated with Robinhood Markets or its subsidiaries.