ARB is the governance token for the Arbitrum layer 2 blockchain. Created by Offchain Labs in 2021 as a scaling solution for Ethereum, the Arbitrum protocol has rapidly emerged as one of the key players in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Arbitrum achieves faster transactions than Ethereum by using a technique called transaction rollups, which submits batches of transactions to the Ethereum mainnet. Several leading DeFi protocols including Uniswap, Sushi and Aave use Arbitrum to reduce fees and increase efficiency.

At its peak in 2021, Arbitrum had $2.35 billion in total value locked (TVL) as it became a vital tool for swapping tokens and generating a yield with lending protocols. There are currently more than 200 protocols that use Arbitrum – including yield aggregators, decentralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges – which allow users to transfer tokens from one blockchain to another.

The largest protocol on Arbitrum is GMX, a decentralized spot and derivatives exchange that is deployed in Arbitrum and Avalanche. Having launched in 2021, GMX is the largest decentralized derivatives exchange measured by TVL.

The ARB token was issued in March 2023 when the Arbitrum Foundation rewarded users with an airdrop. The initial supply is 10 billion tokens, with 11.5% of those being allocated to Arbitrum users. The Arbitrum team will get 44% of tokens whilst the treasury will receive 43.3%.

The token will solely be used for governance as Arbitrum transitions into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Holders can vote on governance proposals using the token to decide key issues including fees, token unlocks and inflation rate.

Arbitrum is often compared with rival layer 2 blockchain Optimism, which was also designed to scale the Ethereum network. Optimism launched a governance token in 2022.

Offchain Labs is based in New York and has raised $123.7 million in three funding rounds from 2019 and 2021. It has attracted investment from Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital and Mark Cuban, according to CrunchBase. The company was co-founded by CEO Steven Goldfeder and CTO Harry Kalodner.