Crypto
Arbitrum announces ARB token Airdrop and DAO transition
September 6, 2023
The long-awaited ARB token will allow holders to vote on changes to the leading Ethereum layer 2 network. Arbitrum, the largest player in the Ethereum layer 2 scalability landscape, is finally getting a token.
The Arbitrum Foundation has announced that the ARB token will be distributed to community members on Thursday, March 23. The introduction of the ARB token marks Arbitrum's official transition to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). ARB holders will have the power to vote on key decisions regarding Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova - networks that allow users to trade on the Ethereum blockchain at faster speeds and lower costs.
According to the Arbitrum Foundation, the ARB token will make the Arbitrum ecosystem more decentralized than alternative scalability chains. Offchain Labs, the creator of Arbitrum, will no longer control the future of the chain. Instead, they will act as a service provider and build software at the request of the DAO.
Arbitrum worked with Nansen, the cryptanalysis company, to capture user activity in February to qualify for ARB tokens. Factors such as transaction volume, application usage and duration of use on Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nitro were considered.
Eligible users can check their status and claim tokens by visiting gov.arbitrum.foundation. They are encouraged to be careful when claiming their tokens to avoid scams and phishing attempts.
The ARB token is used exclusively for protocol control, where the governance process of Arbitrum DAO is self-executing. This allows votes to directly change Arbitrum's core code.
The introduction of the ARB token coincides with the launch of Arbitrum Obit, which allows third-party apps and protocols to build new layer 3 blockchains based on Arbitrum's low-cost infrastructure.
Arbitrum currently has $3.69 billion locked in its Ethereum rollup network, Arbitrum One, making it the clear market leader in the competitive layer 2 space. With the long-awaited launch of the ARB token, the network aims to promote decentralization and expand its ecosystem, following in the footsteps of its main competitor, Optimism, which launched its OP token nearly a year ago and transitioned to DAO governance.
Both Arbitrum One and Optimism are so-called "Optimistic" rollup networks. They are blockchains that work alongside Ethereum, aggregating large groups of transactions and then writing those transactions in bulk to the Ethereum ledger - reducing the fees one would have to pay to execute those transactions separately.
As for why Arbitrum waited longer to launch its governance token, Goldfeder stressed, "The technology came first. And based on our technical roadmap, this was the right time." According to Goldfeder, Arbitrum has achieved certain technical milestones, such as working fraud proofing (the technology that supports Arbitrum One's security) that its main competitor has yet to achieve.
