The Ethereum Layer 2 network Arbitrum witnessed a remarkable surge in its daily revenue, reaching a record-breaking $3.4 million (in ETH) on Thursday, June 20th. This spike was largely driven by increased activity related to the opening of the LayerZero ZRO token claims.
Arbitrum’s Revenue Skyrockets
- Arbitrum’s daily revenue spiked from just $20,000 on June 19th to an astonishing $3.4 million on June 20th, representing a staggering 16,500% increase.
- This significant boost in revenue can be attributed to Arbitrum’s role as the coordination chain for the LayerZero token claims contract, processing claims atomically without the need for additional LayerZero messaging.
- “One of the biggest winners from the LayerZero airdrop — Arbitrum,” said Austin Marrazza, product manager at Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs. “DAO raked in $3 million in congestion fees from claiming traffic today.”
LayerZero Token Claims Trigger Surge
- The LayerZero Foundation opened the airdrop claims for its native ZRO token at 7 a.m. ET on Thursday, June 20th, with the claims remaining open until September 20th.
- Eligible participants can claim a total of 85 million ZRO tokens, representing 8.5% of the 1 billion total supply, while the remaining tokens are reserved for future distribution programs, ecosystem growth, strategic partners, and core contributors.
- However, the foundation announced that users must make a $0.10 donation per ZRO token in USDC, USDT, or ETH to support the Protocol Guild, a non-profit funding collective for Ethereum core researchers and developers.
“There is no forced donation, if you don’t want to donate… simply don’t claim. This is not something you own, it’s something being offered,” said LayerZero Labs CEO Bryan Pellegrino, addressing the criticism surrounding the mandatory donations.
Impact on Arbitrum’s Gas Prices and Fees
- The surge in activity on Arbitrum caused a spike in median gas prices, rising from 0.01 gwei to 34.7 gwei before settling back to similar levels as the activity subsided.
- This gas price increase translated to an average daily transaction fee on Arbitrum soaring to $0.89 on Thursday, compared to a typical sub-cent fee.
The LayerZero ZRO token is currently trading at $3.15, with a market cap of $796 million and a fully diluted valuation of $3.2 billion, along with $1 billion in trading volume over the past 24 hours.
