Layer 2 (L2) blockchain Arbitrum will airdrop its native $ARB token on March 23, 2023, the Arbitrum Foundation said in the announcement. The launch represents a milestone switch to decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governance of its Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova networks.

The Decentralization of Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova

Arbitrum, the popular Ethereum L2 scaling solution, announced on Thursday the airdrop of its native $ARB token, scheduled to go live on March 23. Arbitrum Foundation said in the press release the move marks the decentralization of the Arbirum network as it transitions into a DAO.

This means $ARB token holders will have a say in critical decisions when it comes to the governance of Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova. These two networks let users carry out transactions on the Ethereum blockchain with better speed and at a lower cost.

“The $ARB token will facilitate the decentralization of the Arbirum network, and the $ARB airdrop will place the governance token in the hands of the users who are actively participating in the Arbitrum ecosystem.”

– Arbitrum Foundation said in the press release.

According to the press release, the majority of the token’s supply will be controlled by the Arbitrum community through the Arbitrum Foundation, allowing for the organic growth of its ecosystem. Through the DAO, $ARB token holders can vote and propose any changes they want to see at Arbitrum.

The airdrop will account for 12.75% of the token’s total circulation and will be distributed to those using the network over the past year. Also, $ARB will not be used for paying transaction fees on the network.

The Wait is Over

With more than $3.6 billion locked into its Ethereum rollup network, Arbitrum One is one of the biggest L2 networks in total value locked (TVL), commanding 55% of the Ethereum L2 market share. As one of the biggest crypto projects without a token, the Arbitrum community has been longing for the $ARB airdrop for a long time.

Optimism, Arbitrum’s main rival in the Ethereum scaling space, airdropped its OP token last year when it transitioned to DAO governance. Arbitrum One and Optimism are often called “optimistic” rollup networks, which operate alongside the Ethereum blockchain.

These networks roll up large groups of transactions, which they then write to the Ethereum ledger. This way, the transaction fees become significantly lower than paying to execute them individually. Like Arbitrum, Optimism has also seen a massive surge in user activity in recent months and in the number of new users.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist

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