Arbitrum is at a pivotal moment - whilst it has the highest TVL of any chain, a thriving ecosystem of projects, and a dedicated contributor group, it faces several challenges as it scales. Today we’ll talk about: ➼ Challenges that the ecosystem faces ➼ Opportunities to tackle these challenges ➼ Solutions that we want to implement ​ »»———♰⊱༺ Challenges ༻⊰♰———«« ​ ➼ Unclear Narrative: A lack of a cohesive identity hinders ecosystem collaboration and weakens Arbitrum’s long-term vision and positioning within the broader crypto industry. ​ ➼ Builder Support Gaps: Given the intricacies of accessing the ecosystem (whether through the DAO, Offchain Labs, or the Arbitrum Foundation), builders often cite low awareness of opportunities and insufficient post-onboarding support from the DAO, reducing ecosystem retention. ​ ➼ Orbit Chain Isolation: Orbit chains experience disconnection from Arbitrum One, with fragmented liquidity, poor UX, and underdeveloped bridging solutions, along with a lack of branding to compete with Superchain, Elastic Chains, and other competitors. ​ ➼ Weak Incentives for Innovation: A lack of competitive strategies to incentivize builders to push limits may be holding back Arbitrum’s ability to retain top-tier developers and foster innovation. ​ ➼ Missed Market Sectors: While Arbitrum has cemented itself as a DeFi chain, it struggles to dominate emerging sectors like DeAI, DeSci, DePIN, and payments, failing to capture mindshare and builders in these areas. ​ »»———♰⊱༺ The Opportunity ༻⊰♰———«« ​ The Arbitrum Research and Development Collective (ARDC) is up for Election! ​ The ARDC essentially operates as a consultancy arm for the DAO and its delegates, where Research, Risk, and Security specialists educate and inform the ecosystem to ensure the DAO accelerates towards its goals. ​ We are applying for the Research seat in partnership with @dl_research 🦙🏰 ​ »»———♰⊱༺ Our Solutions ༻⊰♰———«« ​ We know Arbitrum excels in various areas, but the question of what it should be known for remains unanswered. ​ ➼ We want to lead a comprehensive analysis of Arbitrum’s current identity within the wider ecosystem, addressing gaps and opportunities for narrative and branding alignment. ​ ➼ These clear and unbiased research findings would fully inform delegates of Arbitrum’s position and optics within the broader ecosystem, enabling them to move forward with confidence in setting Arbitrum’s mission, vision, and purpose whilst ensuring the DAO’s strategic objectives are set in line with what Arbitrum is trying to become. ​ »»———♰⊱༺ ༻⊰♰———«« ​ We know Arbitrum as the home of builders, but sometimes, they don't feel all that at home. ​ ➼ We want to identify and address key challenges in developer retention, ecosystem growth, and strategic alignment to recommend an effective builder expansion and retention strategy. ​ ➼ This will pave the way for an onboarding/ecosystem workstream to be set up with a clear strategy and priorities. ​ »»———♰⊱༺ ༻⊰♰———«« ​ We know innovation happens on Arbitrum, but lately, it has been slowing down. ​ ➼ We want to position Arbitrum as the premier blockchain for innovation by optimizing grant funding and incentivizing novel protocols. We will investigate retroactive funding, innovation-specific grants, strategic grants, and other methods of builder engagement to foster a thriving ecosystem, especially in areas where Arbitrum is currently lacking. ​ ➼ This will serve as the basis for a roadmap towards a grant-driven growth workstream capable of attracting top builders, rewarding those who brought us this far, and driving sustainable ecosystem expansion. ​ »»———♰⊱༺ ༻⊰♰———«« ​ We know that in crypto, UX is everything. Arbitrum and its ecosystem should feel as one, and all possible tools should be utilised as we wait for interoperability. ​ ➼ We want to address UX gaps, simplify chain abstraction, and align Orbit chains as a cluster with the broader ecosystem while exploring future technical solutions as they mature. ​ ➼ This research will output clear recommendations for improving UX and advancing Orbit chain adoption while leveraging chain abstraction for seamless UX across the Arbitrum ecosystem. ​ »»———♰⊱༺ ༻⊰♰———«« ​ We all know that the slice of the pie available is larger if we grow it from outside. Instead of fighting over DeFi builders, attention should be given to newer industries discovering how blockchains can solve their problems. ​ ➼ Many have spoken about analysing and mapping new potential verticals that should be targeted and onboarded to Arbitrum. ​ ➼ We want to go one step further from mapping and developing a blueprint for outreach initiatives that incentivise and onboard these high-growth sectors (payments, AI agents, consumer apps, DePIN, DeSci). ​ »»———♰⊱༺ Distribution ༻⊰♰———«« ​ We are committed to increasing transparency by providing regular updates on ongoing initiatives. Furthermore, all findings and progress will be actively shared across DL Research and Castle’s platforms, including blog posts, Twitter threads, and collaborative reports to maximize their impact and visibility. This multi-channel strategy will ensure the community stays informed and engaged, driving a more cohesive and effective ARDC V2. ​ »»———♰⊱༺ Our TLDR ༻⊰♰———«« ​ ➼ We are committed to providing research, not for research's sake, but with a focus on implementation and insights that can be leveraged practically and effectively ➼ Our team can be summarised as “Data researchers meet Arbitrum specialists” ➼ You will get institutional-grade research abstracted to clearly and concisely inform delegates and allow them to make the best decisions possible ➼ 2 for 1: Onboard DefiLlama into their first DAO whilst betting on an Arbitrum-native research team who have demonstrated loyalty, knowledge, network, and experience ➼ Half the price, twice the output, double the team ➼ Distribution into the wider space will be a key focus for us post-research - we will ELI5 information for delegates, and propagate it to our own audiences too ➼ We already have strong working relationships with Arbitrum contributors across the DAO, app builders, AF and OCL. ​ »»———♰⊱༺ Vote for Us Now! ༻⊰♰———«« ​ ​ »»———♰⊱༺ Resources ༻⊰♰———«« ​ ➼ Presentation: ➼ Pitch Recording: ​ Tagging some Arb bulls: @OffchainLabs @arbitrumdao_gov @DAO_Arbitrum @EntropyAdvisors @DK33IV @SirBootsOfIron @CamelotDEX @jojo17568 @SEEDLatam @soby0x @0x_dav @vitaieth @zerototom @LouisCooper_ @whizwang @ajwarner90 @sgoldfed @BFreshHB @poopmandefi @ReveloIntel @TheDeFISaint @arndxt_xo @rektdiomedes @thedailydegenhq @zerokn0wledge_ @chainlinkgod @yoavw @gregcanessa @coinflipcanada @l2beat @olimpiocrypto @wintermute_t @panteracapital @ercwl @plutusdao_io @thegrifft

Last week we talked about the introduction of Uniswap V4 and its upgrades, with over $52M TVL reached in only 9 days. Now, we want to focus on protocols that are already making good use of it. Let's check them out below 🔽