Off Chain Labs, which developed the Arbitrum ecosystem, has announced plans to airdrop $ARB, the new native token of the Arbitrum blockchain which will govern all future operations and protocols. The currency will be given to select individuals to hold and test out until it’s ready to be released to the general investing population.
Off Chain Labs Is Paving the Way for a New Governance Asset
Those set to receive early access to the coin will include users of Arbitrum One, the larger of the company’s two blockchains. Customers of Arbitrum Nova, which is designed for web3 games and other social applications, will also get to utilize the token early.
Off Chain Labs has also said it will be establishing what’s called the Arbitrum Foundation and an associated DAO (decentralized autonomous organization). The goal will be to govern the management of the enterprise’s ecosystem, and all holders of the token will be allowed to vote on proposals submitted to the DAO, thus ensuring Arbitrum remains fully decentralized and democratic.
Steven Goldfeder – CEO and co-founder of Off Chain Labs – explained in a statement:
Looking ahead, we’re moving closer and closer toward a decentralized financial system, with the Arbitrum technology at the very forefront.
He went on to say that the token airdrop is designed to ensure the decentralization he and his fellow executives are picturing for Arbitrum reaches full form, and that in no way is it designed to give them additional cash. He mentioned:
I don’t care about the token for the sake of a token. I really don’t. The token is a tool to decentralize, and a tool to give governance power to users.
Arbitrum is a blockchain network that has reached a powerhouse position in just under two years. It is now one of the most popular layer-2 blockchain networks on Ethereum, and it boasts nearly $2 billion in total assets locked within its management core. Its design is to make all Ethereum transactions cheaper and faster.
Up until now, the network – unlike many of the layer-2 blockchains built atop ETH – did not have its own token, which arguably made it appear less legitimate in traders’ eyes. This is now changing, and Goldfeder said it’s all part of a growing trend that has seized the digital currency space in recent years. He said:
There’s this increasing trend in the community where projects not only want to launch their own application, [but they also actually] want to launch their own chain.
Growing By the Day
The company also has plans to build what’s going to be called Arbitum Orbit, which will be utilized by developers looking to establish layer-3 blockchains on top of Arbitrum.
Not long ago, Off Chain Labs raised more than $120 million in new funding. It now has a valuation of about $1.2 billion.
