Offchain Labs, the main developer of the Arbitrum network, has purchased additional amounts of ARB tokens, indicating its long-term conviction in the future of the network, at a time when the sector is experiencing a decline in sentiment and ongoing pressure on governance token prices.
In a post on platform X this week, Offchain Labs stated that it remains "committed to growing the Arbitrum ecosystem in a meaningful way," noting that it has increased its direct exposure to the tokenized Arbitrum (ARB) as part of a pre-approved purchase plan. The company added that this step reflects its intention to continue "doubling down on efforts to develop Arbitrum at all levels."
Arbitrum is a second-layer scaling network for Ethereum, designed to improve transaction speed and reduce fees by processing operations off-chain and then settling them on the Ethereum network. The network relies on Optimistic Rollups technology, which aggregates transactions and assumes their validity unless challenged, allowing users to benefit from Ethereum's security while minimizing costs.
The reaffirmation by Offchain Labs of its commitment gains particular importance amid broader concerns in the cryptocurrency industry that key stakeholders and early investors may be reducing their exposure to governance tokens. In the case of Arbitrum, the ARB token is primarily used as a governance tool, granting holders voting rights on proposals related to network upgrades, funding initiatives, and ecosystem strategy. All on-chain revenues are directed to a treasury wallet controlled by token holders.
The price of ARB has dropped by 77% since the beginning of the year.
Arbitrum competes for a share of the DeFi market
This development comes at a time when the Arbitrum network has recently achieved several significant milestones that reflect its expansion and the momentum of its activity.
According to data shared by Arbitrum, the network has processed over 2.1 billion transactions since its launch on the Arbitrum One network, which is the primary scaling layer for Ethereum where the majority of user activity and decentralized finance applications are concentrated.
Arbitrum has also announced that it has surpassed the $20 billion mark in total value locked by 2025, maintaining its position as the largest second-layer network for Ethereum in terms of market share.
In comparison, competing second-layer networks like Optimism and Base have recorded lower levels of total value locked, despite strong growth in application activity on these networks.
These networks compete for a share of the decentralized finance market on Ethereum, which is estimated to be worth around 68 billion dollars, despite differing technical and strategic approaches, especially between Arbitrum and Optimism (OP).
As for the Base network, it does not yet have its own native token, although market speculation continues regarding the possibility of launching a token in the future.
