The Arbitrum community is abuzz with anticipation following the announcement of the ARB token airdrop by Arbitrum Foundation. The new token will be airdropped to eligible community members on Thursday, March 23, and marks Arbitrum’s official transition into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova are networks that allow users to transact on the Ethereum blockchain with better speeds and lower fees. With 55% of the Ethereum layer 2 market share, according to layer-2 analytics site L2Beat, anticipation for an Arbitrum token has been at a fever pitch since the network went live in 2021.
The airdrop will grant 11.5% of the total supply to eligible Arbitrum users and 1.1% to DAOs operating in the Arbitrum ecosystem. With ARB’s total circulation of 10 billion, the Arbitrum community will control 56% of the tokens.
The announcement of the airdrop has triggered a surge in over-the-counter (OTC) trading of unreleased ARB tokens. OTC trading allows easy buying and selling of cryptocurrencies directly between sellers and buyers. The process is usually very fast, with funds being transferred directly from a bank account to the seller. In this case, when a price is agreed on by the buyer and seller, the seller receives payment from the buyer and then gives up the seed phrase linked to the eligible wallet.
However, the Arbitrum community has also warned others to stay vigilant after reports of phishing websites and scams offering Arbitrum airdrop tokens. As one of the most significant crypto projects without a token, the anticipation for an Arbitrum token has been high since the network went live in 2021.
Arbitrum’s main competitor in the Ethereum scaling space, Optimism, launched its OP token nearly a year ago when it transitioned to DAO governance. However, the launch of the ARB token puts Arbitrum in direct competition with Optimism and could lead to further developments in the Ethereum scaling space.
In summary, the announcement of the ARB token airdrop by Arbitrum Foundation has triggered over-the-counter (OTC) trading of unreleased tokens, with 11.5% of the total supply being granted to eligible Arbitrum users and 1.1% to DAOs in the Arbitrum ecosystem. However, the community has also warned others to be cautious of phishing websites and scams offering Arbitrum airdrop tokens. With the launch of the ARB token, Arbitrum is now in direct competition with Optimism in the Ethereum scaling space.