Answer · checked 30 Oct 2026
What backs a cAsset, and is a Catch token synthetic?
Not in the usual sense: a synthetic tracks a price with nothing held behind it, and each token here has an asset behind it. The stock tokens you buy in Catch are issued by Coinbase on Base, as a beneficial claim on an underlying share held in custody, and by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited on Robinhood Chain, as tokenised debt securities backed 1:1 by shares; Catch does not issue them. A cAsset such as cNVDA is a fixed-supply token backed by its own reserve of the underlying token, and redeeming it burns it for its share of that reserve.
Start on webThree kinds of token, side by side
Coinbase stock token on Base, such as NVDAc
- Issuer
- Coinbase
- What it is
- A beneficial claim on an underlying share, held 1:1 in regulated, bankruptcy-remote custody separate from Coinbase, in a trust for token holders.
- Minting and redemption
- Limited to KYC-onboarded institutional partners and Authorized Participants.
- Dividends and splits
- An onchain multiplier; your token count stays the same.
Robinhood Stock Token on Robinhood Chain, such as NVDA
- Issuer
- Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited
- What it is
- A tokenised debt security: economic exposure to the underlying share, but no legal or beneficial rights in it. Robinhood says each token is backed 1:1 by a share held by a US-based custody partner.
- Redemption
- Sell onchain, or redeem with the issuer after its identity checks.
- If the issuer fails
- Robinhood says an independent security agent would sell the underlying shares and pay the proceeds to token holders.
Catch cAsset on Robinhood Chain, such as cNVDA
- Issuer
- Its own Catch family contracts, with a fixed supply of 1,000,000 and no minting after launch.
- What it is
- A claim on its own reserve of the underlying token (for cNVDA, Robinhood's NVDA stock token), not on the issuer's shares.
- Redemption
- Burn it for its share of the liquid reserve. Catch has no pause on redemption, but the underlying issuer can still pause or block its own token.
- Price
- No peg: the market price and the backing per token can differ.
The one derivative: perps
The Perps tab on a Catch stock page is different. A perp is a derivative contract on Hyperliquid that tracks a price, with no stock token or share behind it.
Questions
- Is a Catch stock token synthetic?
- Neither issuer behind the stock tokens in Catch describes them as synthetic. Coinbase says each of its tokens is a beneficial claim on an underlying share held 1:1 in custody, and Robinhood says each of its Stock Tokens is backed 1:1 by the underlying stock held by a custodian. Robinhood's tokens are debt securities, though: they give economic exposure without legal or beneficial rights in the share.
- Is a cAsset synthetic?
- No. A cAsset is backed by its own onchain reserve of the underlying token and can be redeemed against it: redemption burns the cAsset and pays its share of the liquid reserve. It is not a claim on the underlying issuer's shares, and it has no price peg, so its market price can sit above or below the backing per token.
- Does Catch issue the stock tokens?
- No. Coinbase issues the stock tokens on Base and Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited issues them on Robinhood Chain. Catch is the app you buy and sell them in, for 0.50% once per move, $0.10 minimum.
- What happens if a stock token issuer fails?
- Coinbase says the shares sit in bankruptcy-remote custody, separate from Coinbase, in a trust for token holders. Robinhood says that if its issuer became insolvent, an independent security agent would sell the underlying shares and pay the cash proceeds to token holders.
- Which cAssets exist today?
- Eleven, all on Robinhood Chain: cCATCH, cGOLD, cSPY, cNVDA, cEWY, cSGOV, cSLV, cETH, cPONS, cSPCX and cTSLA. Each has its own reserve of one underlying token, such as GLD for cGOLD, WETH for cETH and CATCH for cCATCH.
Sources
Read 30 Oct 2026. Facts about other companies are paraphrased from their own pages.