Key Takeaways:
Arcus launched pTokens on Robinhood Chain on Aug. 25, wrapping perpetual positions into transferable ERC-20 tokens with fixed leverage up to 3x.
"Traditional markets have spent decades making sophisticated investment strategies easier to access through products like leveraged ETFs. We believe the next step is making those strategies native to blockchain infrastructure," Eddie Zhang, founder and CEO of Arcus, said.
Each pToken represents a pro-rata ownership stake in an underlying Arcus perpetuals account at a fixed market and leverage level, converting exposure into a transferable ERC-20 asset. Products include pBTC and pBTC3x, offering 1x and 3x long and short bitcoin exposure, plus leveraged stock tokens such as pHOOD3x, giving 3x long exposure to Robinhood's HOOD stock. Arcus said it has recorded more than $2 billion in trading volume since launching on Robinhood Chain, with average daily volume above $100 million and more than 85,000 users on its perpetuals waitlist.
Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum Layer 2 built on Arbitrum's technology stack, went live on public mainnet July 1 and has since drawn more than $600 million in total value locked and $26 billion in cumulative DEX volume, according to The Block's data dashboard. The launch lets traders buy and sell leveraged exposure like spot assets without managing collateral or margin, expanding access to bitcoin, SOL and HYPE.
The protocol brings leveraged ETF-style strategies onchain, letting holders trade or transfer positions without directly managing a perpetuals account, collateral or margin. Tokenized stocks are available outside restricted regions including the US and UK, widening the pool of assets that can back leveraged trading. The launch also deepens activity on Robinhood Chain, which ranks among the top 15 chains by DeFi total value locked, per DefiLlama data.
For dYdX Labs, the product extends its derivatives infrastructure beyond its own venue into a retail-facing chain backed by Robinhood Crypto, a partner that brings a large brokerage user base. The next test is whether pTokens draw sustained volume and liquidity beyond the initial waitlist of 85,000 users, and whether the fixed-leverage structure holds up under sharp market moves.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
