Arbitrum Governance Vote on Orbit Chains Expansion

The Arbitrum ARB DAO, the governing body of the Arbitrum ecosystem, is currently voting on a proposal to extend its Orbit chains beyond Ethereum.

Proposal Details

The proposal, initiated by the Arbitrum Foundation, is undergoing an initial “temperature check” vote on Snapshot, which will conclude on August 1, 2024.

Previously, the Arbitrum expansion program was limited to blockchains that derive security from Ethereum, primarily focusing on Layer 2 blockchains. The existing program allows entities to fork the Arbitrum codebase and create customizable, EVM-compatible Orbit Chains, catering to specific needs such as transaction throughput, gas tokens, and governance preferences. These chains can be configured to settle directly on Ethereum.

Potential Expansion

If approved, the latest proposal would enable new Orbit chains to launch across various blockchain networks, including Bitcoin, Binance Smart Chain, and Cosmos.

The foundation expressed that there is significant interest from projects wanting to form Orbit chains outside the Ethereum ecosystem, which has prompted a reevaluation of the program’s current limitations. An expansion could result in more Orbit deployments, thereby enhancing revenue for the Arbitrum DAO.

Orbit chains currently allocate 10% of their profits to the DAO. The proposal also highlights that this expansion could contribute to the multi-chain adoption of the Ethereum Virtual Machine and the upgraded version, Stylus (EVM+).

Initial results of the temperature check vote reflect strong support for the expansion, with over 99% of the votes in favor.