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 runs 24/7. This is distinct from perps, where you take leveraged exposure against margin rather than holding the asset.

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.

No native gas token needed

For token-to-token trades the router submits the settlement transaction for you, so you don’t need to hold the chain’s native gas token. The gas cost is not free: it is charged in the trade token and shown as a line item on the quote. Paying with the chain’s native asset is the exception — there you broadcast the transaction yourself and pay gas directly.

Fees

Every spot quote itemises its fees: a protocol fee and the settlement gas cost, both charged in the trade token. An integrating partner may add its own builder fee (see Spot integration). Read the fee lines on each quote rather than assuming a fixed rate.

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. The router draws on:

• 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 router may combine firm quotes from several makers to fill one trade, settling atomically alongside your signed intent.
• On-chain AMM liquidity. Automated market-maker pools that hold the tokenized asset on-chain. The router trades into a pool — or splits across pools — when that gives the best price.
• External venues. Select external liquidity venues that widen the routing set.

For a given order the router uses whichever source, or combination, gives you the better execution.

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 receive depends on what you opted into:

• Real token (default). You receive the tokenized equity itself.
• Wrapped token (opt-in). If you opt in to wrapped settlement when requesting the quote, and that choice is part of the intent you sign, a whitelisted maker may instead deliver a wrapped token (e.g. wTSLA) that is later 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.

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. For corporate actions, see the Help Center: dividends, voting rights, and stock splits. The tokens themselves are yours to hold, transfer, or trade — see the disclaimer for the risk profile relative to traditional stock ownership.

Spot vs. perps

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 token can be settled or unwound without your action — settlement burns it and delivers the real token, and if the maker misses the settlement deadline it can be burned and the token you paid refunded to you.

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