Arbitrum Airdrops $120M Worth Of ARB Tokens To DAOs In Ecosystem

Ethereum scaling solution Arbitrum has started the distribution of 113 million ARB tokens to decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) within its ecosystem. 

Arbitrum has already airdropped ARB tokens worth $120 million. 

ARB Token Distribution Begins 

Arbitrum announced the news on their Twitter handle, stating that the test transaction conducted earlier in the week was successful. 

“The full distribution of the DAO airdrop will take place today with those that have confirmed receiving the test transaction that was sent earlier last week.”

According to data from leading Ethereum analytics firms such as Arkham, Nansen, and LookOnChain, Arbitrum has already transferred 100 million ARB tokens to the addresses of protocols eligible for the airdrop. Arbitrum has allocated an initial amount of 113 ARB tokens to 125 eligible DAOs. This is worth around $148 million at current prices. According to data from Spotonchain, around 90 million ARB tokens, worth around $120 million at current valuation, have already been distributed. 

Eligible DAOs 

There are 125 decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that are eligible to receive the ARB token airdrop. The leading recipients of the airdrop include protocols such as SushiSwap, Uniswap, Dopex, Balancer, Radiant, GMX, and Treasure DAO. Among these, Treasure DAO and GMX are set to receive the highest allocation, getting around 8 million ARB tokens, respectively. Meanwhile, other protocols in the list, such as Uniswap, Curve, Balancer, SushiSwap, and Dopex, will receive between 3 million and 5 million ARB tokens. 

“The DAO Distribution of the Arbitrum airdrop occurred last night. Around $120M of $ARB was sent to Arbitrum protocols – although not all projects have received their allocation yet.”

Apart from the projects mentioned above, another 118 protocols in the Arbitrum ecosystem will receive the ARB token airdrop. According to the Arbitrum team, the distribution of the ARB token will be completed by the end of the week. 

Fueling Ecosystem Growth 

After receiving the airdrop, DAOs will have complete autonomy when it comes to determining how to distribute and utilize their ARB token airdrop. Protocols can reward users retroactively or incentivize usage and liquidity by introducing new ARB incentives. The Arbitrum team explained in a blog post that the primary goal of the airdrop toward DAO treasuries was the localization of community governance. 

“The ultimate goal is the localization of community governance. Each protocol knows its community best, and it will be up to the respective DAOs to determine how to distribute governance within their community. It is our hope and intention that by distributing tokens to Arbitrum DAOs, governance power will ultimately be shared with a broader variety of users than just those eligible for the user airdrop.”

Several protocols have committed to using the funds to fuel ecosystem growth. PlutusDAO has intended to strengthen the protocol using the additional funds. Andrew Kang, the co-founder of Mechanism Capital, stated that the additional funds added into the Arbitrum ecosystem could help significantly boost liquidity across DeFi projects in the Arbitrum ecosystem. Optimism has also launched similar programs to improve the usage and liquidity of its ecosystem. 

Smaller Protocols To Benefit The Most 

According to on-chain data analyst The Data Nerd, protocols that have smaller market capitalizations would benefit the most from the ARB incentives. According to the analyst, smaller ecosystems and protocols such as PlutusDAO, Vesta Finance, and Yin Finance would end up receiving incentives significantly greater than their current market cap, helping boost their ecosystem growth.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.