ArbitrumARB

Arbitrum is a layer-2 network on Ethereum. It processes transactions off the main chain and posts the results to Ethereum, which makes them cheaper and faster. Arbitrum was developed by Offchain Labs, a company founded in 2018 by Ed Felten, Steven Goldfeder and Harry Kalodner, who came out of Princeton University. Its main network, Arbitrum One, opened to the public on August 31, 2021. ARB is the governance token of the Arbitrum DAO, and it was launched through an airdrop in March 2023.

Arbitrum is an optimistic rollup. This means that it assumes transactions are valid unless someone proves otherwise with a fraud proof, and it is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), so developers can use Ethereum applications and tools. Transaction fees on Arbitrum are paid in ETH, not in ARB.

The technology has been extended several times. The Nitro upgrade in 2022 raised the network's speed and lowered its costs, Stylus lets developers write smart contracts in languages such as Rust and C++ as well as Solidity, and BoLD is a dispute system that allows anyone to take part in validating the network. Outside teams can also launch their own customized chains that use Arbitrum's technology. The network has a second chain, Arbitrum Nova, which is built for applications such as games and social apps.

In March 2023, the Arbitrum Foundation and the Arbitrum DAO were created, and ARB was issued to move control of the network from Offchain Labs to the community. ARB holders can vote on proposals or delegate their votes, elect the Security Council and decide how the DAO's treasury is used. The airdrop gave tokens to early users and to DAOs that build on Arbitrum.

ARB launched with a supply of 10 billion tokens, and the DAO can vote to mint new tokens, up to 2% of the supply per year. The largest shares were set aside for the DAO treasury, the team and advisers, and investors. The tokens of the last two groups were locked and released gradually over four years after the launch. Circulating and total supply figures are shown at the top of this page.

ARB began trading in March 2023. You can see the all-time high and the full price history on the chart above.

Follow the live Arbitrum price on this page. Cointelegraph's ARB price index shows the ARB to USD rate, 24-hour change, market cap, trading volume, all-time high and year-to-date return, plus the circulating supply. Use the interactive Arbitrum price chart to compare timeframes from six hours to all time, and the ARB to USD converter to check any amount in seconds. For daily updates, see our blockchain news page.