Arbitrum, the Ethereum Layer 2 scaling protocol, has announced that it will airdrop governance tokens under the ticker ARB to community members on March 23. The move is part of the project’s efforts to establish a greater level of decentralization. The ARB token will serve as the governance token for the protocol’s new self-executing DAO and its network, Arbitrum One and Nova. Users who have interacted with the network over the past 12 months will be eligible for the airdrop. The airdrop allocation makes up 12.75% of the community’s allocation, and an on-chain snapshot from Feb. 6 will be used for the ARB token distribution.
Of the 12.75%, 11.5% will go to network users, 1.25% was allocated to decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) within the project’s ecosystem and a DAO of Ethereum developers known as Project Guild. The majority of the Arbitrum token is community-owned (~56%), and the airdrop serves as a path towards greater decentralization and placing active community members in the driver’s seat. Notably, users won’t settle transaction fees in ARB, and it’s unclear whether the ARB token will be listed on centralized exchanges.
In addition to the ARB airdrop, Arbitrum also announced a self-executing DAO that will oversee distribution and the ETH scaling protocol moving forward. The DAO will feature a security council with the power to make crucial decisions in certain situations. This DAO will manage proposals and direct changes to the code for Arbitrum One and Nova. Twelve members will seat on the security council, and they will be changed every six to 12 months. Some of the members currently on the council include Celer Network co-founder Mo Dong, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake, and LayerZero Labs CEO Bryan Pellegrino.
Although this DAO style poses risks, CEO at Offchain Labs, Steven Goldfeder argued that the DAO governance system will adopt a thorough model where proposals and changes are slowly reviewed. The shortest period for changes will be 21 days, and that timeline can stretch as much as 34 days for major changes.
Arbitrum also unveiled a developer stack for builders dubbed Arbitrum Orbit. According to the announcement, Orbit will give developers the tools to ship Layer 3 solutions on the protocol’s network. Developers will be able to build smart contracts on the networks of the project while tapping Ethereum’s famous security layer. The L3 stack for developers is expected to incentivize activity on the network and support builders.
In summary, the ARB airdrop is a significant step towards decentralization for Arbitrum, and the self-executing DAO will oversee distribution and the ETH scaling protocol moving forward. The security council will make crucial decisions in certain situations, and the project’s governance model will adopt a thorough review process. The developer stack for builders dubbed Arbitrum Orbit will give developers the tools to ship Layer 3 solutions on the protocol’s network. The Ethereum Layer 2 scaling protocol is making significant progress towards establishing a greater level of decentralization, and the ARB airdrop is a significant milestone in this direction.
