Protocol: Arbitrum
Category: Layer 2 on Ethereum
TVL: $2.64B

With about $2.64B in TVL, Arbitrum is the leading layer 2 solution on Ethereum. They might launch a token in the near future. Use Arbitrums ecosystem and potentially get rewarded later.

However, I have no information that the provided strategy in this article will actually result in a qualification for an airdrop distribution of Arbitrum, nor that there ever will be such an Airdrop. This is solely in the hands of the Arbitrum team. Instead, I will provide you with strategies to get more proficient in the Arbitrum ecosystem. I believe layer 2’s are the future of Ethereum.

Overview:

• Intro
• Benefits
• /1 Bridges (become an Arbitrum user)
• /2 NFTs (become a digital art collector on Arbitrum)
• /3 Trade (become a Repeated Arbitrum User)
• /4 DeFi (become a DeFi degen on Arbitrum)
• /5 Governance (become a governance voter)
• /6 Experimentation (become an experimenter on Arbitrum)
• /7 Odyssey (become a companion of Arbitrum)
• Closing remarks

Intro – Don’t try to game the airdrop. That’s risky. You might loose what you put in. Be a user instead. Get proficient in web3. No financial advice.

Recent events have shown that one shouldn’t try to game an airdrop. Instead get familiar with its ecosystem, use its dapps, educate yourself.

Benefits – Taking the above statements into account, we should be using the protocol instead of trying to game it. This way you might benefit 3 times:

1st: become more proficient in web3
2nd: be rewarded as an early user of Arbitrum
3rd: be rewarded as an early user of protocols that don’t have a token yet

Where to start?

1/ Bridges:

🎯 Goal: Become an Arbitrum User

First of all you will need to bridge funds over to Arbitrum. For this you have various options:

• Centralized bridges: Binance, FTX
• Native bridge: Arbitrum bridge
• 3rd party bridges: Hop Exchange, Celer Bridge, Connext Bridge and many more

It is speculated that the use of Arbitrums native bridge will qualify for a potential future airdrop. It might come in handy to use 1-2 of the other bridges as well.

If you’re using Arbitrum for the first time, you should:

1. Add the network to your metamask via Chainlist
2. Transfer ETH from Ethereum to Arbitrum using its native bridge

2/ NFTs

🎯Goal: Become a Digital Art Collector on Arbitrum

Currently, NFTs account for about half of the network interactions on Ethereum. It is very likely that the demand for NFT on Arbitrum will rise as soon as layer 2s get more populated. One of the big advantages is the massive reduction in transaction costs.

There are various ways to get exposure to NFTs on Arbitrum:

• Buy and sell NFTs on TofuNFT
• Buy and sell NFTs on Stratosnft
• Get exposure to NFTI via Uniswap
• Arbitrum Odyssey (more infos at the end of this article)

An easy way to get exposure to blue chip NFTs is via the NFTI token. This represents the following NFT projects:

You can simply purchase the token by following these steps:

1. Visit Uniswap and choose the Arbitrum network
2. Select the token you would like to sell
3. Select the token you would like to buy, i.e.: NFTI
4. Click Swap

3/ Trade

🎯Goal: Become a Repeated Arbitrum User

Protocols reward users that repeatedly perform certain actions. To achieve that, familiarize yourself with some of the following protocols, in which you can swap tokens or provide liquidity:

• Uniswap
• Sushiswap
• Slingshot
• Balancer

You can also play around with the following two DEX aggregators to swap, pool or bridge funds across multiple chains:

• Zapper
• Zerion

4/ DeFi:

🎯Goal: Become a DeFi Degen on Arbitrum

If you have made it this far, you have already invested a substancial amount of time and effort into the Arbitrum Ecosystem. From here on it gets a bit more advanced. This might qualify you for the DeFi Degen criteria of the airdrop. There are nearly endless opportunities to dive deeper into Arbitrum. Some of them are:

• Invest into Yearn’s L2 Curve Tricrypto vault
• Invest into Badger’s DeFi vaults
• Provide liquidity on Stargate Finance
• Provide liquidity on Vesta earn up to 60% APR
• Stake on GMX to earn up to 47% APR
• Try BarnBridge’s SMART Alpha pools

Let’s dive into GMX as an example. You can simply follow the next steps:

1. Buy GMX or GLP (GLP is staked automatically)
2. If you want to stake GMX, you can navigate here. Select stake

5/ Governance:

🎯Goal: Become a Governance Voter

Active participation in governance doesn’t only help you stay up-to-date but also helps the industry to advance. Many protocols suffer very low government participation rates. This is not (yet) directly linked to Arbitrum. However, Optimism, the second largest layer 2 scaling solution has valued this as important when distributing token to its community. This is what you can do:

• Voting for Arbitrums Odyssey on Snapshot (closed)
• Governance voting on Snapshot for various protocols
• Look out for upcoming governance opportunities for Arbitrum

6/ Experimentation:

🎯Goal: Become an Experimenter

This is the frontier. Experiment with new protocols. Get proficient in web3. Here’s what you can do:

• Provide risk protection on Risk Harbor
• Donate to public goods on Gitcoin Grants
• Create a multi-signature wallet with Gnosis Safe

How to create a multisig wallet. Follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Gnosis Safe
2. Click on create new safe
3. Connect your wallet and select Arbitrum as network
4. Name your Safe
5. Add 2-3 owners of the Safe and the policy to confirm transactions
6. Create Safe
7. Send ETH to the new safe and make a few transactions

7/ Odyssey

🎯Goal: Become a Companion of Arbitrum

Last but not least: The Arbitrum Odyssey. A long awaited and advertised event. It will most likely draw large attention on the network.

What is the Odyssey?

It is an 8-week journey through the Arbitrum ecosystem. In a previous vote (see in 5/ governance) users could vote on their favorite protocol. The winners are in the following list.

1. Bridge Week
2. Yield Protocol & Hashflownetwork
3. Aboard Exchange & TofuNFT
4. Uniswap & ApeX Protocol
5. 1inch & Izumi Finance
6. Dodo DEX & NFT & Swapr
7. Treasure_DAO & BattleFly
8. Ideamarket & SushiSwap

Closing remarks: My plan is by no means to game future Airdrops. Do not use multiple wallets to do the same things. If you do, it is likely that you will be filtered out as a sybil attacker and excluded from any airdrop. My intention is simply to be on the frontier, try out new things, support the ecosystem with liquidity, votes and traction and educate myself. For this behavior one might get rewarded later. Crypto pays to learn.

THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE. EVERYTHING I MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE IS RISKY. YOU CAN LOSE WHAT YOU PUT IN. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH AND INVEST AT YOUR OWN RISK.