Arcus launches pTokens on Robinhood Chain, turning perpetual futures into tradable ERC-20 tokens

Arcus, a decentralized exchange built by the dYdX development team in partnership with Robinhood Crypto, has launched its pToken protocol on Robinhood Chain. This protocol converts managed perpetual futures accounts into transferable ERC-20 tokens, allowing users to trade leveraged exposure like standard spot assets. Initial offerings include 1x and 3x long/short Bitcoin tokens and a 3x long Robinhood stock token. Since its July 1, 2026 launch, Robinhood Chain has accumulated over $600 million in total value locked, while Arcus has processed over $2 billion in trading volume.

pToken protocol launch

• ▪The pToken protocol was developed by Arcus in partnership with Robinhood Crypto and the development team behind dYdX.
• ▪Arcus launched the pToken protocol on Robinhood Chain to tokenize managed perpetual futures accounts into transferable ERC-20 tokens.

Leveraged ERC-20 token mechanism

• ▪Each pToken represents a pro-rata ownership stake in an underlying Arcus perpetuals account with a fixed market and leverage level.
• ▪The pToken structure allows traders to buy and sell leveraged exposure on spot venues without directly managing margin or collateral.
• ▪Arcus perpetual positions are settled in USDG, a Paxos-issued stablecoin that serves as the platform's primary collateral.

Initial product offerings

• ▪The initial pToken offerings include pHOOD3x, which delivers 3x long exposure to Robinhood's HOOD stock token.
• ▪Arcus allows traders to utilize eligible tokenized stocks as collateral to back leveraged trading positions.
• ▪The initial pToken offerings include pBTC and pBTC3x, which provide 1x and 3x long or short exposure to Bitcoin.

Arcus trading volume metrics

• ▪Arcus has processed over $2 billion in cumulative trading volume, with average daily volumes consistently exceeding $100 million.
• ▪The Arcus perpetuals waitlist has accumulated more than 85,000 user registrations.

Robinhood Chain total value

• ▪Robinhood Chain has processed over $26 billion in cumulative decentralized exchange trading volume since its activation.
• ▪Robinhood Chain has accumulated over $600 million in total value locked since its public mainnet launch on July 1, 2026.
• ▪Robinhood Chain is an Ethereum Layer 2 network constructed using Arbitrum's technology stack.

dYdX Labs partnership structure

• ▪dYdX Labs founder Antonio Juliano is joining the board of directors of Arcus.
• ▪Arcus operates as a separate product from the independent dYdX Chain, which continues to operate on its own.
• ▪Robinhood Crypto invested in Arcus as a strategic backer to supply distribution to Robinhood's users.