Questions,
answered plainly.
Everything a first-time visitor asks before the bell. For the mechanics in full, read the docs.
01What is Bell Markets in one sentence?
A daily UP or DOWN game on Robinhood Stock Tokens: stake USDG on whether a stock token closes above or below its opening price, settled by one Chainlink read at the bell, winners split the pot.
02How is this different from DeStocks?
DeStocks is an options protocol: writers lock full collateral, pick strikes and weekly expiries, buyers hold ERC-1155 contracts. Bell Markets is parimutuel and binary. There is no counterparty to find, no strike, no expiry grid and nothing to exercise. Two buttons and a pot.
03Is it live?
Not yet. The site and the X account are live so you can read everything first. The contracts are in test; the terminal opens once they are deployed and verified on Blockscout. Status on the home page reads "Terminal opening soon".
04What do I stake with?
USDG, the Paxos dollar stablecoin on Robinhood Chain. Payouts and refunds are in USDG too. You never hand the protocol a stock token.
05What is the reference price?
One Chainlink read taken when the round locks at the US market open (09:30 New York time). Settlement is one Chainlink read at the closing bell (16:00 New York time). Close above the lock price: UP wins. Below: DOWN wins.
06What happens on a tie, or if nobody bets the other side?
The round is cancelled. Everyone claims a full refund. No fee is taken on a cancelled round.
07What happens on a market holiday or if the Chainlink feed is stale?
The contract refuses to lock or settle on a stale answer. If a round cannot be locked or settled inside its grace window, anyone can cancel it and every stake becomes refundable. Nothing can trap funds.
08What does it cost?
3% of the pot on settled rounds only, snapshotted per round when it is scheduled so it can never change under you. 80% of that buys and burns $BELL, 20% funds operations. Gas on Robinhood Chain is paid in ETH and is small.
09Can the team touch my stake?
No. The contract has no withdraw, no pause and no upgrade path. Funds only leave through claim (to the bettor) and settle (the fee to the FeeRouter). The operator role can schedule rounds and nothing else. The owner can cancel an unlocked round, which only ever results in refunds.
10Can I bet both sides?
No. One side per wallet per round. You can add to your side until the round locks.
11Do rounds run on weekends?
Daily rounds follow US trading days because the reference feeds only publish fresh prices while the equity session is open. Weekly rounds lock Monday at the open and settle Friday at the bell. After-hours rounds settled on on-chain DEX prices are planned for later.
12What is $BELL?
The protocol token, launched on Pons with a fixed supply of one billion and locked liquidity. Its only job is to be bought and burned by protocol fees. It carries no claim on funds and no governance over the contracts.
13Is this available to US persons?
Robinhood Stock Tokens are issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) and are not offered to US persons. Bell Markets is a permissionless contract on a public chain; you are responsible for the rules that apply to you.
14Are the contracts audited?
Not yet. They are small, fully tested and will be source-verified on Blockscout before the terminal opens. Treat the protocol as experimental.
Still curious? Ask on X. The terminal opens at the bell.