Arcus Stock Tokens: what you actually own
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Arcus Stock Tokens are tokenized US equities issued by Bitstamp Global Ltd, which holds the underlying securities; Arcus is only the venue where they trade. Holding one gives you price exposure. It does not give you voting rights, a dividend claim as such, or any guarantee that the token can be redeemed for the real share.
That distinction is the whole page. Everything else about these instruments, the 24/7 hours, the zero Arcus fee, the ability to post them as perps collateral, sits on top of a legal structure where your counterparty is an issuer in the British Virgin Islands and your trading venue is a Cayman Islands company. If you are used to a brokerage account, almost every assumption you carry needs checking.
Who issues them and who holds the shares
Arcus states that Stock Tokens are issued by Bitstamp Global Ltd, a BVI-registered virtual asset service provider, and that Bitstamp holds the underlying securities. Arcus describes itself as the venue. Spot Stock Token trades settle wallet to wallet on Robinhood Chain, which is where the self-custody claim comes from, but the token itself is a liability of the issuer rather than of the exchange.
Practically, that means two different questions about the same trade. Is Arcus going to execute and settle correctly? That is a smart contract and market structure question, and it is covered on the Arcus security page.
Is there really a share sitting behind the token? That is a Bitstamp question, and Arcus publishes no attestation link to answer it. Reserves are described only as being “intended to be publicly attestable”.
No attestor, no cadence, no report. Say what you like about the design, that is a gap, and it is covered in more detail on whether Arcus is legit.
What you do not get
The Arcus help centre is unusually direct about the limits, repeating them across four separate FAQ pages:
- No voting rights. You cannot vote a Tesla Stock Token at a Tesla shareholder meeting.
- No dividend claim as such. Arcus does not publish a pass-through mechanism, a record date rule or a payment asset.
- No guaranteed redemption. Stock Tokens cannot necessarily be exchanged for the real shares.
- No price guarantee. The token price can diverge from the underlying stock price.
Those four lines are worth reading twice, because most marketing around tokenized equities implies the opposite. A general version of the same argument, covering other issuers as well, sits on tokenized stocks explained.
How many markets, and why the counts disagree
Market counts move, so they need dates. Arcus launched on 1 July 2026 with 95 Stock Tokens and 35 real-world-asset perps. On 11 August 2026 it doubled the stock token list.
On 1 October 2026 The Block reported 190 or more stock tokens, citing Arcus. CoinGecko counted 162 pairs the same week.
| Date | Count | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 July 2026 | 95 Stock Tokens | Arcus at launch |
| 11 August 2026 | list doubled | Arcus blog |
| 1 October 2026 | 190+ stock tokens | The Block, citing Arcus |
| 1 October 2026 | 162 pairs | CoinGecko |
The two October figures are not measuring the same thing. A pair count depends on which quote currencies a tracker indexes and which markets it has onboarded, while a token count is whatever the venue says it lists. Neither number was independently verified, so quoting both with their sources is more honest than picking the bigger one.
Named markets Arcus lists include Tesla, Apple, NVIDIA, Amazon and Palantir on the single-stock side, plus SPY, QQQ, SOXX, EWY and SGOV among index and bond products.
How they trade
Spot Stock Tokens trade through a request-for-quote system: market makers quote you a price, you accept or you do not. Perps use a central limit order book instead. Arcus has published its reasoning for splitting the two mechanisms, and the short version is that an order book for 190 thinly traded equity markets would sit empty most of the day while an RFQ can be quoted on demand.
Arcus charges 0% on spot Stock Tokens. That headline is real and it is also incomplete, because the cost moves into the quote itself. The spread is the fee, and Arcus says slippage widens outside US market hours, which is exactly when the 24/7 pitch is most attractive.
You also pay gas in ETH on Robinhood Chain on every transaction. The full breakdown, including the perps tiers and the beta caveat on them, is on Arcus fees.
Price divergence is a feature of the structure
If the token trades 24/7 and the underlying trades for six and a half hours on weekdays, the two prices cannot stay glued together. Over a weekend there is no cash market to arbitrage against, so the token price is whatever market makers are willing to quote given their own risk. During US hours the link is tighter, because hedging is cheap. Treat a weekend quote as an opinion about Monday rather than a reading of Friday’s close.
Stock Tokens as perps collateral
Arcus allows Stock Tokens to be posted as collateral for perpetual futures, alongside USDG, which is the Paxos Labs stablecoin used as the quote and collateral currency. That is convenient and it stacks two risks on one position: the collateral can fall at the same time as the trade goes against you, which brings liquidation closer than a stablecoin-collateralised position would. Perps also need an invite code, which is a separate obstacle entirely. Both are covered on Arcus perps.
Who can actually hold them
Arcus is not available in the United States, the United Kingdom or Canada. The Terms also exclude sanctioned persons and comprehensively sanctioned regions, naming Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, and set a minimum age of 18. Those three blocked countries cover most of the English-speaking search traffic that lands on pages like this one, so check first: the eligibility detail is on Arcus countries, and the practical onboarding sequence is on how to use Arcus.
The risk statement, plainly
Stock Tokens are not shares, and the rights you would expect from a share are absent. Perpetual positions collateralised with them can be liquidated, and most leveraged traders lose money. Prices here can diverge from the market you think you are tracking. Nothing on this site is financial advice, and nothing here is based on first-hand trading; it is read from Arcus’ own published documentation as of 2 October 2026.
Questions people ask
Who issues Arcus Stock Tokens?
Bitstamp Global Ltd, a BVI-registered virtual asset service provider, issues them and holds the underlying securities. Arcus is the trading venue only. That split matters because your claim, whatever it is worth, points at the issuer rather than at Arcus.
Do Arcus Stock Tokens pay dividends?
The help centre says Stock Tokens carry no dividend claim as such. Arcus does not publish a dividend pass-through schedule, a record date process or a payment asset, so treat a token as price exposure and nothing more.
Can I redeem a Stock Token for the real share?
Not necessarily. Arcus states that Stock Tokens cannot necessarily be redeemed for the underlying shares. There is no published retail redemption process, so the realistic exit is selling the token on Arcus for USDG.
Why does the token price differ from the real stock price?
Arcus says the token price can diverge from the share price. Divergence widens when US markets are shut, because market makers quoting the RFQ cannot hedge cheaply, so they quote wider or move the mid away from the last cash price.
How many Stock Tokens does Arcus list?
The Block reported 190 or more stock tokens on 1 October 2026. CoinGecko counted 162 pairs the same week. Arcus launched with 95 and doubled the list on 11 August 2026. The counts are not directly comparable.
Can I buy Arcus Stock Tokens from the United States?
No. Arcus is not available in the United States, the United Kingdom or Canada, plus other restricted jurisdictions named in the Terms. Eligibility is checked at the protocol level, not by asking politely.