An Overview of the Arbitrum Project and the ARB Token

Offchain Labs is the powerhouse behind the Arbitrum initiative. It was founded in 2018 by three experts from Princeton, USA: Ed Felten, a former Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for the White House; Steven Goldfeder, a computing maestro and the current CEO of the company; and Harry Kalodner, an expert in informatics and the company's CTO.

The project raised $3.7 million in a seed round in 2019, thanks to Pantera Capital and Compound VC. In 2021, funding expanded significantly: Arbitrum managed to raise $120 million from investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ribbit Capital, Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital, Redpoint, and Alameda Research. 

At the time this article was written, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in Arbitrum stands as the most significant among all L2 networks, surpassing $2 billion. DefiLlama data indicates that the blockchain hosts 388 protocols and has over 150,000 active users.

In addition to the Arbitrum One mainnet launched in 2021, Offchain Labs has developed another network called Arbitrum Nova. This platform is envisioned as a hub for social dApps and blockchain gaming. For an in-depth look at this, refer to our dedicated article on the website.

ARB acts as the governance token for the Arbitrum DAO. It endows its holders with the power to vote on pivotal project decisions. Furthermore, ARB holders have the flexibility to delegate their voting authority to another user.

It's worth noting that ARB isn't the currency for transaction fees within the network; that role is served by ETH.

The total supply of ARB is capped at 1 billion tokens. Currently, about 13% of that maximum cap is in circulation. Presented below is the distribution and token release schedule for ARB.

ARB is available on several decentralized exchanges, including WhiteBIT, OKX, Binance, Bybit, Coinbase, Kucoin, Kraken, Huobi, and more.

To add the Arbitrum One network to MetaMask, you should navigate to the settings, opt for 'manually add network', and provide the subsequent details:

Network Name: Arbitrum One

RPC URL: https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc 

Network ID: 42161

Ticker: ETH

Block Explorer URL: https://arbiscan.io/   

To incorporate the ARB token in MetaMask, choose 'manually add token' and input the appropriate contract address:

For the Arbitrum One network: 0x912CE59144191C1204E64559FE8253a0e49E6548

For the Arbitrum Nova network: 0xf823C3cD3CeBE0a1fA952ba88Dc9EEf8e0Bf46AD

For the Ethereum network: 0xB50721BCf8d664c30412Cfbc6cf7a15145234ad1

Since its mainnet debut, the Arbitrum initiative has shown promising progression. The blockchain holds appeal, but it simultaneously contends with substantial competition from the Optimism L2 network, which utilizes a similar transaction bundling methodology. Moreover, a slew of other L2 blockchains, proposing the novel ZK-rollup technology, have cropped up, each presenting its distinct merits and drawbacks.

Significantly, Offchain Labs has pioneered a platform to usher in L3 networks rooted in Arbitrum, which can be tapped into by different companies and developers. This strategic move promises a bright trajectory for the project, even though Optimism has rolled out a parallel solution.

In terms of the ARB token, its practical application appears relatively constricted, mainly serving as a governance token devoid of supplementary functionalities. However, ecosystem ventures might pinpoint innovative applications for the ARB token. Importantly, market stabilizers have shielded the ARB token from undergoing a sharp decline post-airdrop, a scenario evident at the time this piece was penned.

Arbitrum hasn't been immune to hurdles, particularly those concerning the Arbitrum DAO and the initial token allotment. For a comprehensive understanding of this, one can consult our specialized article on the platform.