Nansen Report: Arbitrum Airdrop Had Positive Impact on Adoption of Network Amid Negative Crypto Market Conditions

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Fredrik Vold

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July 12, 2023 09:30 EDT

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According to a new report by blockchain analytics firm Nansen, the airdrop conducted by Arbitrum has led to an all-time high in both the number of users and transactions on the network. 

This development comes despite significant bearish sentiment in the broader markets.

And while the surge in usage at the time of the airdrop was expected, the report also pointed out that network usage has remained relatively high even after the airdrop was completed.

The increased usage was notable when compared to other networks like the layer-2 network Optimism, which saw stagnant and even falling usage over the same period.

Notably, Arbitrum even surpassed the usage seen on its base layer, Ethereum, on some days.

Besides driving more sustained usage, the airdrop also sparked a rise in transaction fees on Arbitrum, which are paid in ETH.

The report noted that gas spending has been in an upward trend for much of this year, which was strengthened by the airdrop.

“It remains to be seen if this current trend will persist many more months after the airdrop,” the report added.

In terms of the USD value of transactions processed on the network, the Nansen report observed a similar pattern: a sharp rise followed almost immediately by a decline post-airdrop.

Still, what can be seen is that transactions, on average, have maintained a higher USD value than before the airdrop, the report stated.

Arbitrum is a popular Ethereum layer-2 network often used to save on fees for instance when interacting with decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions.

Other popular layer-2 networks include Ethereum’s Optimism and Starkware, and Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.