On March 16, 2023, the Ethereum layer two (L2) scaling solution Arbitrum launched a self-executing decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governance model and a native governance token named ARB. The Arbitrum Foundation announced the launch of DAO governance for the Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova networks, as well as the launch of ARB.
The initial supply of ARB tokens is 10 billion, with an inflation rate that will max out at 2% per year. The ARB tokens will be airdropped to eligible ecosystem participants, such as Offchain Labs, Offchain Labs investors, users of the Arbitrum platform, and DAOs that have built with the L2 technology. The ARB airdrop distribution begins on March 23.
The self-executing governance system allows the decentralized autonomous organization to execute on-chain decisions directly, without requiring intermediaries to carry them out. Arbitrum believes it is “leading the way as the first L2 to launch self-executing governance.”
Additionally, Offchain Labs has launched Arbitrum Orbit, a permissionless solution for developers to build a layer three (L3) blockchain using Arbitrum technology.
Arbitrum’s ARB token launch comes slightly later than Optimism’s optimism (OP) token launch in April 2022. Currently, OP is trading for $2.46 per unit, down more than 4% against the U.S. dollar over the last day. The ARB airdrop announcement includes anti-Sybil rules to prevent bots from taking advantage of the distribution, and investor and team tokens are subject to four-year lockups, with the first unlocks happening in one year, followed by monthly unlocks for the remaining three years.
