Arbitrum (ARB)
Unlock Schedule
Arbitrum (ARB) Token Unlock & Vesting Schedule
The unlock chart above provides a clear visual overview of the Arbitrum (ARB) token release schedule, showing when and how tokens enter circulation across investor, team, treasury, and community allocations. Understanding these tokenomics dynamics is critical for evaluating potential supply pressure, inflation impact, and market liquidity over time — key factors that can influence ARB price performance.
Each color segment in the chart corresponds to a specific allocation group described in the Allocations section below. Underlying assumptions and data models used to reconstruct this schedule are explained in detail under Assumptions, while broader utility insights and token use cases are covered in Tokenomics & Utility.
Tokenomics & Utility
The ARB token launched in March 2023 with an initial supply of 10 billion. The DAO can introduce up to 2% annual inflation via governance. At launch and after follow-up governance (AIP-1.1/1.2), the distribution included: 35.28% to the DAO Treasury, 26.94% to the team and contributors, 17.53% to investors, 11.62% to users via airdrop, 1.13% to DAOs building on Arbitrum, and 7.5% to the Arbitrum Foundation’s administrative budget (placed in a vesting contract per AIP-1.1). (docs.arbitrum.foundation)
Team and investor allocations unlock over four years starting March 16, 2024, on a monthly schedule after a one‑year cliff. The Foundation allocation vests linearly over four years starting April 17, 2023. These schedules shape circulating supply and can influence market perceptions of ARB price over time. (docs.arbitrum.foundation)
ARB is a governance token, not a gas token. Transactions on the Arbitrum blockchain are paid in ETH; you’ll need a little ETH on Arbitrum to sign transactions, swap, or interact with dApps. Governance uses both off-chain signaling and on-chain voting for upgrades, budgets, and incentive programs. (support.arbitrum.io)
Assumptions
- Airdrop distributions are modeled as a full cliff on the airdrop start date (2023-03-23).
Tokens were fully claimable from that date; while actual claims occurred over months, the schedule models claimable supply at monthly granularity.
- Team and investor vesting starts 2024-03-16 and vests linearly with no lump-sum at the 1-year mark.
Foundation docs specify first unlocks one year after TGE followed by monthly vesting for three years; no official source indicates a 25% cliff.
- Foundation allocation split into 50M initial cliff and 700M linear vest from 2023-04-17.
Foundation’s circulating supply page notes 700M in the vesting contract plus 50M initially distributed; vesting wallet is referenced on Arbiscan.
- DAO Treasury is treated as fully unlocked at genesis for supply availability, even though spending is governance-controlled.
Allocation is not subject to vesting; funds become circulating only when deployed, which is discretionary and not pre-scheduled.
- No ongoing PoW/PoS issuance or automatic inflation is modeled.
ARB is a governance token; ETH is used for gas on Arbitrum. The Constitution allows up to 2% annual inflation by governance, but no such mint has been executed to date.
Allocations
Description
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Arbitrum is a protocol that offers layer 2 scaling for Ethereum using optimistic rollups. Arbitrum processes transactions on its own sidechain and relays them to Ethereum mainnet, while ensuring security and compatibility with Ethereum smart contracts.
| Sector: | Layer 2 |
| Blockchain: | Arbitrum |