Arbitrum

ARB is the governance token of Arbitrum, a network that makes Ethereum transactions faster and cheaper.

Arbitrum One is a layer-2 network for Ethereum. It runs transactions more cheaply off Ethereum and posts the data back to Ethereum, which secures it. Offchain Labs, founded by Ed Felten, Steven Goldfeder and Harry Kalodner, opened it to the public on 31 August 2021. The network has processed about 2.7 billion transactions.

ARB is not used to pay fees: users pay gas in ETH. ARB is a governance token. Holders and their delegates vote on proposals that change the network's software and spend the DAO treasury. The token was created on 16 March 2023 with a supply of 10 billion, and the rules allow new issuance of up to 2% a year.

At launch 35.28% of ARB went to the DAO treasury, 26.94% to the Offchain Labs team and advisors, 17.53% to investors, 12.75% to airdrops and 7.5% to the Arbitrum Foundation. Team and investor tokens unlock monthly until March 2027; by August 2026 about 92% of supply was unlocked or held by the DAO.

The DAO earns income from network fees, transaction-ordering auctions, licence fees from chains built on Arbitrum such as Robinhood Chain, and treasury investments, including tokenised US Treasury funds. The Arbitrum Foundation runs the sequencer, and a 12-member elected Security Council can make emergency upgrades.