HCS Score
Red Line Violations
Research Opinion, Not a Fatwa
Pre-launch project
Market data will populate once the project goes live. The scoring below is a preliminary review by the CoinStudy Shariah Board.
These are absolute prohibitions in Islamic finance. If any red line is triggered, the asset is automatically classified as HARAM.
Ecosystem Riba Exposure
Not directly or indirectly connected to interest generating mechanisms
Gambling / Betting
No gambling or betting mechanism
Haram Industry
Not involved in haram industry
Based on Red Line Screening and HCS Scoring.
Haram / Non Compliant
This cryptocurrency is evaluated as Haram for investment and use because the asset demonstrates material Sharia compliance concerns within the CoinStudy HCS framework.
Explanation
This asset shows significant concerns related to Sharia compliance, financial structure, or speculative design.
Reviewed by
CoinStudy Shariah Board
The team that built dYdX is back with a fundamentally more ambitious product.
dYdX was the most widely used decentralized perpetual futures exchange in crypto history, processing billions of dollars in daily volume for leveraged cryptocurrency traders. Its founder Antonio Juliano and CEO Eddie Zhang, whose trading startup Pocket Protector was acquired by dYdX Labs, launched Arcus on July 1, 2026 on Robinhood Chain, Robinhood's Arbitrum-based Layer 2 blockchain.
According to The Defiant research, dYdX Labs launched Arcus as a decentralized exchange that combines tokenized stock trading with perpetual futures, built jointly with Robinhood Crypto. According to CoinCodeCap research, the platform runs on Robinhood Chain and lets users trade more than 95 tokenized stock tokens around the clock with zero spot fees. According to CoinLaunchSpace research on X, the beta includes 95 tokenized stocks, 35 RWA perps, zero percent spot fees, and a confirmed Arcus token separate from DYDX, with Robinhood Crypto's strategic investment giving Arcus potential access to more than 25 million existing users.
The commercial ambition is genuine and the institutional backing is extraordinary. Robinhood Crypto, one of the largest retail investment platforms in the United States with tens of millions of users, has invested in Arcus and provides the stock token issuance and redemption infrastructure through 1:1 backing. The dYdX team's experience building one of the most technically sophisticated decentralized exchanges in crypto history provides the trading engine.
For Muslim investors, Arcus presents the most directly split compliance picture of any platform CoinStudy has analyzed. The spot trading of tokenized stocks of halal-classified companies is a permissible activity that CoinStudy's Chairman has specifically confirmed in his ruling on xStocks. The perpetual futures product with up to 50x leverage is the same mechanism that makes Hyperliquid Haram under CoinStudy's analysis. Both products exist on the same platform, use the same account, and the entire airdrop farming strategy for the confirmed future Arcus token is built primarily around the perpetual futures product.
Understanding this distinction precisely is the most important thing CoinStudy can provide to Muslim investors evaluating Arcus.
We ran Arcus through the full CoinStudy Halal Crypto Standard (HCS) methodology. Here is the complete picture.
Arcus as a platform fails the CoinStudy HCS Sharia red-line screening due to its perpetual futures product. The Synthetic Interest Products red line is triggered by perpetual futures with up to 50x leverage as a prominently featured core product where funding rate payments flow between traders in leveraged positions. However CoinStudy makes a specific and important distinction that Muslim investors must understand: the spot trading of tokenized stocks of halal-classified companies on Arcus is assessed differently from the perpetual futures product. The infrastructure neutrality principle and the Chairman's ruling on xStocks of halal companies apply to the spot trading activity independently of the platform's Haram perpetual futures product.
According to The Defiant research, Arcus is a decentralized exchange built by the dYdX Labs team, launched on July 1, 2026 on Robinhood Chain, Robinhood's EVM-compatible Arbitrum-based Layer 2. The platform combines two distinct product categories.
The first product is spot trading of tokenized stocks, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. According to CoinCodeCap research, spot trading on tokenized stocks carries zero commission fees. According to LCX research, Arcus offers more than 95 stock tokens across large caps and mid-small cap markets with Paxos-issued USDG stablecoin serving as the primary collateral and settlement asset. The spot product provides 24/7 access to markets that are normally restricted to conventional trading hours. Stock Tokens are described on the official website as providing economic exposure to a relevant underlying equity instrument through a contractual claim against the issuer for cash redemption.
The second product is perpetual futures. According to CoinCodeCap research, the Perps Beta opened July 1, 2026 for waitlisted users, covering 35 real-world-asset markets with up to 50x leverage. The website explicitly advertises cross-margined perpetual futures on equities, crypto, commodities, and indices with leverage available up to 50x. According to airdrops.io research, tokenized stocks can be used as collateral for perpetual futures positions, creating a direct connection between the spot and perps products.
The leadership team is named and credible. Eddie Zhang leads Arcus as CEO with his prior trading startup acquisition by dYdX Labs providing direct industry expertise. Antonio Juliano, dYdX founder, backs the project.
According to CoinCodeCap research, an Arcus token is confirmed, and an allocation will be reserved for the dYdX community including traders, stakers, and validators. According to airdrops.io research, no supply, distribution mechanics, or launch date have been published, making any specific airdrop numbers circulating in the community speculation rather than confirmed information.
The airdrop eligibility structure that has been communicated prioritizes two specific factors. The first is prior perpetual futures trading history on dYdX v3, Hyperliquid, and Lighter, with RWA volume as a bonus. The second is referrals of other validated traders. According to airdrops.io research, spot trading on the live market and climbing the perps waitlist are the two main activities that build airdrop eligibility.
This confirmed airdrop structure is the most compliance-critical design choice Arcus has made from CoinStudy's perspective. The platform has specifically designed its token allocation to reward prior perpetual futures traders and to incentivize perpetual futures waitlist participation. This means that the most direct and highest-probability path to earning the future Arcus token involves engaging with the perpetual futures product that triggers CoinStudy's red-line screening.
Spot trading of tokenized stocks of halal-classified companies on Arcus is a different compliance question from the perpetual futures product and requires separate assessment.
Our Shariah Board Chairman Dr. Usman Quddus issued a ruling specifically confirming that business with xStocks of halal companies is permissible. xStocks are tokenized stock representations similar in concept to the Stock Tokens Arcus offers through Robinhood's 1:1 backed issuance.
The spot trading mechanism on Arcus involves buying and selling tokenized representations of stocks at market prices through a self-custodial DEX with zero commission fees. There is no leverage, no borrowing, no interest mechanism, and no funding rate payment in the spot trading product. The Stock Tokens are backed 1:1 by Robinhood Crypto's actual stock holdings with proof of reserves published publicly.
The compliance questions specific to Arcus's spot product that Muslim investors must assess individually include whether the specific company being traded is halal-classified under CoinStudy's framework. CoinStudy has confirmed halal classifications for several companies whose tokens are available on Arcus including Apple, Amazon, NVIDIA, and Google. Muslim investors should verify each specific stock token's company against CoinStudy's analysis before trading.
Additionally, USDG by Paxos serves as the primary settlement and collateral asset. CoinStudy has not yet published a formal USDG analysis. Paxos-issued stablecoins typically maintain T-Bill backed reserves similar to USDC, which would carry the same Ecosystem Riba Exposure concerns as other T-Bill backed stablecoins. Muslim investors using USDG on Arcus should apply the same caution the Chairman has established for T-Bill backed stablecoins used as mediums of exchange.
The SGOV index token on Arcus, representing a US Treasury bill ETF, is explicitly Haram regardless of the spot trading mechanism, as it provides direct investment exposure to interest-bearing government bonds.
Subject to the individual company halal assessment for each token and with appropriate caution about USDG's reserve structure, spot trading of halal-classified company tokens on Arcus is assessed as closer to permissible than the platform's perpetual futures product under the Chairman's ruling on xStocks.
Arcus's perpetual futures product is Haram for the same reasons that CoinStudy classifies Hyperliquid, dYdX, and Falcon Finance's sUSDf as Haram. Perpetual futures involve funding rate mechanisms where traders in leveraged long positions pay funding payments to traders in leveraged short positions or vice versa. This funding rate represents a carrying cost of leveraged speculative positions that constitutes both a Maysir concern from the inherent speculation in leveraged positions and a synthetic interest-adjacent concern from the predetermined-style transfer of funds between position holders.
Arcus's perpetual futures product additionally offers leverage of up to 50x. Leverage of any amount involves borrowing capital at interest to amplify speculative positions, which is Riba. At 50x leverage, 100 USDT of capital controls 5,000 USDT of position exposure, meaning the trader has borrowed 4,900 USDT at the platform's lending rate to hold the position. This is interest-bearing borrowing for speculative amplification, which is doubly prohibited under Islamic finance as both Riba from the borrowing and Maysir from the speculative leverage.
The fact that Arcus's perpetual futures cover equities, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies rather than only cryptocurrencies does not change the compliance assessment. A perpetual futures contract on Apple stock with 50x leverage involves the same funding rate and leverage mechanisms as a perpetual futures contract on Bitcoin with 50x leverage. The underlying asset's permissibility does not extend to the prohibited financial mechanism that creates the position.
July 1, 2026 Launch and Perps Beta Opening
According to The Defiant research, Arcus launched on July 1, 2026 as dYdX Labs' new DEX combining tokenized stock trading with perpetual futures on Robinhood Chain, the EVM-compatible Layer 2 that Robinhood opened to the public the same day. According to CoinCodeCap research, the Perps Beta opened July 1, 2026 for waitlisted users, rolling out cohort by cohort ahead of a full launch later in the year.
The simultaneous launch of Robinhood Chain and Arcus represents a coordinated institutional strategy to bring tokenized stock trading to blockchain infrastructure through a regulated and trusted brand partnership. The Robinhood name provides consumer trust and user base access that no purely crypto-native exchange has previously had.
Robinhood Crypto Strategic Investment
According to CoinLaunchSpace research, Robinhood Crypto's strategic investment gives Arcus potential access to more than 25 million existing users, solving one of the biggest challenges new exchanges face which is distribution. This institutional investment and user base access is one of the most significant commercial advantages in the tokenized stock DEX space.
95 Stock Tokens and 35 RWA Perps Markets
According to The Defiant research, Arcus offers more than 95 stock tokens across large caps and mid-small cap markets. According to CoinCodeCap research, 35 real-world-asset perpetual futures markets are available in the beta. This breadth of market coverage, combining stocks, indices, commodities, and crypto in a single self-custodial account, represents a genuinely new category of trading infrastructure.
August 2026 Blog Updates — Settlement and After-Hours Handling
The Arcus blog published two educational articles in August 2026 specifically addressing how the platform handles settlement and after-hours trading. The August 7, 2026 blog post explained how Arcus handles stock tokens outside regular trading hours, and the August 4, 2026 post explained how spot settlement works on Arcus. These educational publications reflect a platform in active development that is addressing the practical complexity of bringing traditional finance instruments onto blockchain infrastructure.
Zero Maker Fees on Perps Beta — August 4, 2026
According to the Arcus blog, zero maker fees were announced for the Perps Beta phase. This promotional fee structure is designed to attract liquidity providers during the early beta period. Muslim investors should understand that participation in the perps market under this promotional fee structure is still participation in a Haram financial product regardless of the zero-fee promotion.
Confirmed Future Token
According to CoinCodeCap research, the dYdX Foundation CEO Charles d'Haussy has confirmed that Arcus will launch its own token with allocation reserved for the dYdX community. According to airdrops.io research, no supply, distribution mechanics, or launch date have been published, and any specific airdrop numbers circulating are speculation.
Ecosystem Riba Exposure — ✅ Passed at core infrastructure level. USDG settlement asset carries T-Bill reserve concerns requiring individual assessment.
Gambling and Betting — ✅ Passed. No gambling mechanism at protocol level.
Haram Industry — ✅ Passed at classification level.
Guaranteed Interest — ✅ Passed. No predetermined interest on deposited capital at protocol level.
Synthetic Interest Products — ❌ Failed. Perpetual futures with up to 50x leverage are a core prominently featured product with funding rate mechanisms and leveraged borrowing.
One red line failed. Layer 2 scoring skipped.
Overall Platform Result: Haram — Red Line Violation
Spot trading of halal-classified company tokens assessed separately as closer to permissible under Chairman's xStocks ruling.
Muslim investors considering Arcus must understand a precise and important distinction that CoinStudy has not needed to make this explicitly for any previous platform.
What is permissible: Spot buying and selling of tokenized stocks of companies CoinStudy has classified as halal, using USDG as the settlement medium with the same caution applied to other T-Bill backed stablecoins, through the zero-commission spot trading product only. This is the xStocks principle the Chairman confirmed applied to halal company stock exposure on blockchain.
What is Haram: Any interaction with Arcus's perpetual futures product regardless of the underlying asset, any leverage of any amount, joining the perps waitlist for the primary purpose of earning the future Arcus token through perpetual futures activity, using tokenized stocks as collateral for perpetual futures positions, and trading SGOV or any other T-Bill backed instrument on the spot market.
The airdrop farming strategy: The confirmed Arcus token allocation prioritizes prior perpetual futures trading history and perps waitlist participation. The highest-probability and most direct path to earning the future Arcus token involves the perpetual futures product which is Haram. Muslim investors who want to participate in the potential Arcus airdrop while remaining compliant can only do so through the spot trading activity and referrals, which build eligibility but at a significantly lower weight than perps history. This limited path is permissible but Muslim investors should understand honestly that the airdrop eligibility design specifically rewards perpetual futures participation.
Permissible airdrop farming approach on Arcus:
Trade spot stock tokens of halal-classified companies only. This builds on-platform activity that may contribute to token allocation. Avoid SGOV which is a T-Bill ETF exposure and explicitly Haram. Avoid SPY and QQQ index funds which include significant exposure to companies requiring AAOIFI stock screening before halal classification. Share referral links with other eligible users as referrals are a confirmed waitlist and allocation factor. Do not join the perps waitlist or interact with any perpetual futures product.
This approach provides some potential airdrop eligibility through legitimate permissible activity while completely avoiding the Haram perpetual futures product.
Arcus as a platform is classified as Haram / Non-Compliant under the CoinStudy Halal Crypto Standard due to perpetual futures with up to 50x leverage as a core product.
The spot trading of tokenized stocks of halal-classified companies is assessed separately as closer to permissible under the Chairman's ruling on xStocks of halal companies, subject to individual company halal assessment and appropriate USDG caution.
The confirmed future Arcus token's airdrop eligibility design specifically prioritizes perpetual futures activity, meaning the most direct path to earning the token through participation involves a Haram financial product. Muslim investors who want to participate permissibly are limited to the spot trading and referral activities which provide lower eligibility weight.
The team behind Arcus has built genuine and technically impressive infrastructure. The Robinhood partnership provides institutional credibility and distribution that no comparable platform has achieved. The 24/7 tokenized stock trading with zero spot fees serves a genuine market need. None of these genuine achievements change the compliance classification because the perpetual futures product is a core and prominently featured offering that triggers the Synthetic Interest Products red line.
Read detail analysis and concepts here:
Is USDT Halal?
Is Robinhood Chain Halal?
Is Hyperliquid Halal?
Are Tokenized Stocks Halal?
Disclaimer: This pre-launch analysis is based on publicly available information from the Arcus website, official blog, and research coverage as of August 2026. No native Arcus token has been officially launched. Spot trading assessment of individual stock tokens requires separate halal classification of each underlying company. USDG compliance requires individual assessment of Paxos reserve documentation. CoinStudy does not issue personal fatwas or financial advice. Please consult a qualified Islamic scholar for individual guidance.
Guaranteed Interest
No guaranteed interest obligations
Synthetic Interest Products
No synthetic interest instruments
1 Red Line Failed
This asset is automatically classified as HARAM.
