While the Arbitrum governance token ARB has been in a consistent downturn since the airdrop in late March, its ecosystem shows healthy growth.
A recent Nansen report shows that Arbitrum’s activity improved after the airdrop, stabilizing “at a level higher” than before the airdrop. The daily active users, gas fees and transaction count have maintained consistently higher levels since April 2023.
The gap between the number of active users on Arbitrum and Optimism widened after the Aribtrum airdrop, closing in on Ethereum.
Daily active users of Arbitrum, Ethereum and Optimism (past 6 months). Source: Nansen
The trading volume on Arbitrum-based decentralized exchanges paints a similar picture, showing an evident rise in volume after the airdrop.
The trading volume of DEXs on Arbitrum. Source: DefiLlama
Moreover, Nansen’s report shows that ARB airdrop recipients only accounted for around 5% of the activity on the blockchain and that Arbitrum has attracted considerably more new users after the airdrop.
Potential catalysts for ARB upside
Moreover, an upcoming update on Ethereum in the second half of 2023, dubbed as Cancun-Deneb (Dencun), will include EIP-4844 (proto-Danksharding), which will reduce the transaction fees on Arbitrum, increasing the blockchain’s value proposition.
Additionally, the Arbitrum Foundation recently revealed accumulated data from its sequencer, a part of the layer-2 fees paid by users for posting the data onto Ethereum.
The foundation has decided to pass on the sequencer’s earnings, totaling 3,352 Ether (ETH), or $5.4 million, to the Arbitrum DAO, and the ETH will be managed by ARB holders.
In total:
The Arbitrum DAO has accumulated ~3,352 ETH in revenue,
The Sequencer will be refunded ~5,954 ETH which is the cost for posting all data to the Ethereum network.
How exciting is that?
— Arbitrum (,) (@arbitrum) May 10, 2023
A revenue source for the DAO — a decentralized autonomous organization — can potentially create yields for ARB holders if the community votes to direct the rewards to holders. It remains to be seen how the funds will be managed by the foundation and the…
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