Arbitrum Token Sets Record High as Value Locked Crosses $2.5B

Arbitrum’s $ARB token neared $2 on Wednesday to set a record high and total value locked (TVL) topped $2.5 billion as traders seemingly trickled to the network in anticipation of it driving the next wave of gains in the crypto market.

The price has climbed some 10% in the past 24 hours, beating the broader crypto market, while on-chain volumes on Arbitrum-based applications crossed $920 million. The CoinDesk Market Index dropped 1.7% in the same period. The Arbitrum influx overtook volumes of Solana-based applications, which boomed after a meme coin-led frenzy in December.

Data from DefiLlama shows the TVL on Arbitrum-based applications has increased by $1 billion since October, alongside an increase in net inflows.

Arbitrum’s token incentives appear to have contributed to increased attention toward ecosystem plays. In the past week, users of decentralized exchanges $GMX and Gains Network have benefited from increased rewards and lower fees as part of the incentives plan – likely improving sentiment for $ARB tokens.

In October, Arbitrum distributed about $40 million worth of $ARB tokens to projects that were built on the network as part of a short-term incentives plan, with projects receiving anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $30 million worth of $ARB tokens.

$GMX bagged the most rewards at 12 million $ARB, worth just over $10 million, followed by Gains Network at 7 million $ARB.