Robinhood and dYdX Labs are preparing to launch the new DEX Arcus. The team behind the decentralized exchange dYdX is launching a new project together with Robinhood. The platform is called Arcus and will operate on the Robinhood Chain network.
On the Arcus account on X it was already announced that dYdX is now Arcus. The launch will take place on the Robinhood Chain, an L2 network based on Arbitrum, which Robinhood introduced on the same day.
At the same time, dYdX Foundation immediately clarified an important point: the dYdX blockchain itself is not going anywhere and will continue to operate as before. Arcus is a separate product that dYdX Labs created in partnership with Robinhood.
The new DEX is expected to become one of the key platforms in the Robinhood Chain ecosystem. Users are promised trading of perpetual contracts and access to 95 tokenized stocks with no fees.
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For Robinhood this is part of a broader strategy. The company is increasingly moving into tokenized assets and perpetuals, two areas that have gained significant momentum in recent months.
The interest in perpetuals is understandable. This market is growing rapidly, and traders are increasingly moving to platforms like Hyperliquid. Its token has grown by almost 150% since the beginning of the year, and the platform itself has captured a significant market share.
Arcus to Add Tokenized Stocks and Perpetuals
In the Arcus blog, the team explained why a new protocol is needed at all. According to them, many traders still cannot properly access the largest markets — US stocks, commodities, and indices. The reasons vary: country of residence, trading hours, or restrictions from traditional financial companies.
Arcus wants to lower these barriers. Already this month, the platform is expected to open trading for tokenized stocks and perpetual contracts.
Tokenized stocks can be used as collateral for trading perpetuals. Users are also promised access to the market of companies even before their IPO.
Robinhood Crypto has already invested in Arcus, but the parties did not disclose the amount or terms of the deal.
At dYdX Foundation it was separately emphasized that Arcus does not replace dYdX. It is an independent product on separate infrastructure. The dYdX blockchain will remain under the control of its own community.
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There is currently a noticeable trend in the market toward universal trading platforms. Coinbase, for example, is also trying to compete with Robinhood and is expanding its set of tools. Earlier this year, the exchange added access to thousands of stocks.
Robinhood’s own blockchain also looks like a step along a familiar path. In 2023, Coinbase launched its L2 network Base on Ethereum, and it is now among the largest networks by total value locked, according to DefiLlama.
Other players have already started connecting to the new Robinhood ecosystem. Bitget Wallet announced integration with Robinhood Chain so users can trade tokenized stocks directly through the wallet.
Support for the network is also being prepared by 1inch. The decentralized exchange announced it will be one of the first major swap platforms to work with Robinhood Chain.
