Arbitrum launches self-executing DAO governance model that aims for increased decentralization

Arbitrum, the Ethereum layer two (L2) scaling solution, launched a native governance token dubbed ARB on March 16 alongside a self-executing decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governance model.

The “Airdrop eligibility and distribution specifications” page highlights that the ARB token will have an initial supply of 10 billion, running alongside the system’s inflation rate maxed at 2% per annum. The ARB tokens will be distributed to early users and DAOs that had used the Arbitrum ecosystem before block height 58,642,080 on Arbitrum One, which happened on February 6, 2023. Citing Arbitrum:

[The project is] leading the way as the first L2 to launch self-executing governance.

As FXStreet editor Ekta Mourya reported, the coins will be airdropped to the eligible Arbitrum ecosystem participants. These include Arbitrum DAO treasury, Offchain Labs (the company behind Arbitrum), Offchain Labs investors, users of the Arbitrum platform, and DAOs building with the L2 technology. Notably, claiming begins on March 23.

Arbitrum’s self-executing DAO governance model

The main motivation behind Arbitrum’s layer 2 scaling solution is to increase decentralization. With its self-executing feature, the DAO “votes about on-chain actions will directly have the power to effect and execute its on-chain decisions, without relying on an intermediary to carry out those decisions.”

Beyond the governance system, Offchain Labs has disclosed the Arbitrum Orbit, touted as a permissionless solution for developers to build a layer three (L3) blockchain using Arbitrum technology.

Nevertheless, Arbitrum is a late entrant as far as L2s releasing native governance tokens is concerned. Optimism beat it with the Optimism (OP) token launch in April 2022, which was trading at $2.162 against Tether (USDT) at press time.

The ARB airdrop announcement and eligibility qualifications also highlights the presence of several anti-Sybil rules. These were established to prevent bots from taking advantage of the ARB airdrops. The team also noted that the investor and team tokens are subject to four-year lockups, adding that the “first unlocks will happen in one year and then monthly unlocks for the remaining three years.”