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.