Glossary
ARB
Arbitrum's governance token — distributed in a March 2023 airdrop to early Arbitrum users — governs the Arbitrum DAO treasury and protocol upgrades.
ARB launched in March 2023 via one of the largest crypto airdrops to that date, distributing ~12.75% of the supply to Arbitrum users and protocols. The Arbitrum Foundation holds a separate allocation, and the remainder belongs to the Arbitrum DAO treasury.
ARB governance controls the Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova protocols, the Orbit chain framework, treasury spending, and Arbitrum DAO operations. Unlike Optimism's bicameral model, the Arbitrum DAO is a single-house token-voting structure with proposal categories and a constitution.