A cache of 69.5 million unclaimed Aribtrum (ARB) tokens has been transferred to the Arbitrum DAO Treasury after around 6.7% of eligible users missed a claims deadline.
The DAO voted to transfer the unclaimed tokens to its Treasury rather than allow them to remain locked forever. But will it give users a second chance to claim their ARB airdrop?
Upon its launch in 2021, Arbitrum quickly became one of the largest Ethereum Layer 2 networks.
But it was only in March this year that the platform began rewarding early users by airdropping its new network token, ARB, to early adopters.
The airdrop scheme was designed to reward users based on how long they had been using the platform, their activity levels, and the value of funds they bridged to Arbitrum chains.
In total, 1.162B tokens were designated to the airdrop, representing 11.62% of the overall ARB supply.
On the first day of the drop, Arbitrum reported that nearly 85,000 users had claimed tokens. Within 24 hours, over half of all eligible addresses had claimed their rewards.
With a six-month deadline in mind, the Airdrop was scheduled to expire at Ethereum block #18208000, which occurred on September 24.
In August, the Arbitrum DAO voted overwhelmingly in favor of a proposal to sweep up unclaimed ARB tokens and transfer them to the DAO’s Treasury.
Despite a last-minute awareness campaign, as a result of unclaimed tokens, the DAO is now richer to the tune of around $58M USD. Following the latest transfer, the DAO Treasury holds ARB worth nearly $3B.
According to Dune , 583,137 Arbitrum addresses took part in the Airdrop, representing 93.3% of the 625,143 that were eligible to receive funds. Between them, they claimed 94% of the 1,162B tokens available.
With the transfer now finalized, extending the claims deadline would require DAO approval to identify the addresses that missed out and launch a new distribution contract.
In comments on an X post announcing the conclusion of the Airdrop, some users suggested a second Airdrop. Meanwhile, others proposed burning them. Ultimately, however, getting such proposals past the Arbitrum DAO may prove a challenge.
Going forward, the community appears to favor spending DAO funds on projects that grow and develop the Arbitrum network.
For example, one recently passed proposal will make a pool of 50M ARB tokens available as grants to help fund active Arbitrum protocols.