Stock Tokens

Stock Tokens are on-chain, tokenized representations of equities that you own outright and trade spot — no leverage, no funding, no liquidations. Spot trading is free at launch and runs 24/7. This is distinct from perps, where you take leveraged exposure against margin rather than holding the asset.

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Self-custody

Spot is non-custodial: your Stock Tokens live in your own wallet, and trades settle directly on-chain between wallets. Arcus never holds your funds or keys. Because you sign for what you own, trading a Stock Token from a self-custodial wallet prompts you to sign each trade, plus a one-time authorization the first time you interact with a given token.

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How Arcus sources liquidity

Arcus does not run a spot order book of its own. It acts as a router: for each trade it sources liquidity from the venues available for that token and executes against the best-priced option, always settling on-chain and non-custodially to your wallet. Two kinds of venue feed the router:

• On-chain AMM liquidity. Automated market-maker pools that hold the tokenized asset on-chain. The router trades into a pool when it offers the best price. More on-chain venues are being added over time.
• The Arcus RFQ network. A request-for-quote (RFQ) service where professional makers who have integrated with Arcus return firm, signed quotes on demand. The best quotes settle atomically alongside your signed intent.

For a given order the router may draw on either source — whichever gives you the better execution.

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How trading and delivery work

Whichever venue fills your order, the result settles atomically in a single on-chain transaction — slippage-bounded and non-custodial. What you actually receive depends on liquidity in the underlying token:

• Real token (preferred). When a native fill against the tokenized equity is available, you receive the real token directly.
• Wrapped placeholder (fallback). For long-tail names where no native fill is available, a whitelisted maker mints a wrapped token (e.g. wTSLA) that behaves like the underlying in your account and is automatically settled to the real token on the maker’s cadence — no action needed from you.

Either way you hold spot exposure to the equity. A wrapped token is a delivery mechanism for a Stock Token, not a separate product.

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Backing and custody

Stock Tokens are issued by Bitstamp — minted by Bitstamp Global Ltd. (BVI), a custodial virtual-asset and securities exchange holding VASP/CASP, MiFID, and other licenses. Arcus is the trading venue, not the issuer. Each Stock Token is backed by the issuer’s reserves of the underlying equity — real shares held in regulated custody — or cash and equivalents when the underlying is on loan. The issuer’s reserves are intended to be publicly attestable, and wrapped-token supply and escrow balances are verifiable on-chain in real time. Holding a Stock Token gives you a contractual right to redeem with the issuer for the cash market value of the linked security — not the share certificate itself. Economic exposure passes through, but not every shareholder right:

• Dividends are not paid out directly; their value is reinvested into the underlying backing the token, and your displayed balance adjusts via an on-chain oracle update — no action needed.
• Stock splits work the same way: an oracle update adjusts every holder’s displayed balance.
• Voting rights are not passed through.

The tokens themselves are yours to hold, transfer, or trade — see the disclaimer for the risk profile relative to traditional stock ownership, and the Help Center for the full Stock Token FAQ.

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Spot vs. perps

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Control and limits

Arcus is non-custodial and cannot move or seize the Stock Tokens you self-custody. Two narrow, network-level exceptions exist: transfers to sanctioned addresses are blocked by compliance controls, and a wrapped placeholder can be force-settled to its real token (which only ever delivers what you are owed).

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