Arbitrum Research Arbitrum ( @arbitrum ) is a Layer 2 that has clearly established its identity as 'pragmatic Ethereum scaling.' It inherits the security of the mainnet through Optimistic Rollup while reducing fees to cents, providing complete EVM compatibility for developers and a fast payment experience for users. As of October 2025, it ranks first among L2s with a total value secured (TVS) of $206.6 billion and second in DeFi TVL at $4.1 billion (after Base), with 4.5 million transactions per day and 193,000 active addresses, proving its 'weight of liquidity' in the ecosystem. Beyond being a simple cost-saving platform, it operates over 40 L3 chains through the Orbit framework, offering application-specific scalability. The introduction of Stylus, which enables Rust and C/C++ based smart contracts, significantly reduces DA costs after the introduction of data blobs, and the roadmap towards permissionless validation with BoLD (dispute resolution) supports its technical durability. The network structure is divided into Arbitrum One (general and DeFi-focused), Nova (low-cost Layer based on AnyTrust for games and social), and Orbit (L3 modular expansion). The One chain hosts major protocols like Aave, Uniswap, GMX, and Pendle, providing deep DeFi liquidity, while Nova is suitable for real-world use experiments with fees under $0.001 and short block intervals. Orbit allows for rapid deployment of game and trading specialized chains by offering customizable gas tokens, governance flexibility, and data availability options. However, as the number of L3s increases, the risk of liquidity fragmentation may grow, making interoperability designs like native bridges such as Hyperlane and universal intent engines key components of marketing and ecosystem strategy. In terms of governance and tokenomics, ARB is a pure governance token, not a gas token. Of the total issuance of 10 billion, 42.78% is held by the DAO treasury, which reinvests into the ecosystem through grants and incentives. Although the two-house structure (token house and security committee) and constitution-based processes are maturing, voter participation has decreased by nearly half compared to 2024, and the concentration of representation is high. The unlocking of team and investor quantities continuing until 2027 (around 127 million ARB per month) exerts continuous selling pressure, casting a shadow over community morale and participation rates. In an attempt to address this weakness, programs such as Delegator Incentives (DIP), audit assistance ($14M), gaming ventures ($10M), and DRIP (80M ARB) are in operation, while the 'merchant user' bias of STIP, which had boosted short-term inflows, is in a phase of qualitative improvement through LTIPP and evaluation committee structures. From the perspective of ecosystem demand, Arbitrum will pull both 'institutions and the public' at both ends in 2025. The integration of PayPal's PYUSD has secured the reliability of payments and settlements, and Lotte's Caliverse metaverse partnership has encompassed Asian retail and entertainment. Robinhood's stock tokenization, S&P index products, and the growth of RWA TVL to $490 million highlight regulatory-friendly real-world connections. At the same time, the developer ecosystem maintains a top position among L2s with 342 active developers monthly (+19% YoY), and the influx from the Rust camp has accelerated since the first anniversary of Stylus. These indicators support Arbitrum's narrative of 'performance over exaggeration'—mature composability and cost efficiency. The competitive environment is challenging. Base, which has captured 'retail' through Coinbase onboarding, is racing to the top of DeFi TVL, while zkSync and StarkNet are accelerating their growth by emphasizing the technical imperatives of 'instant finality and privacy.' The weaknesses of Optimistic Rollup, such as the 7-day withdrawal delay and single sequencer structure, are being offset by BoLD and sequencer decentralization and forced inclusion, but if ZK costs continue to decline, a reassessment of long-term competitive advantages will be necessary. Therefore, achieving ① Stage 2 decentralization, ② strengthening interoperability as a liquidity hub, and ③ attracting high-performance dApps based on Stylus are emerging as strategic priorities. The points of the content and community strategy are clear. First, the narrative of 'maturity and composability' should be brought to the forefront. Instead of news about new chains and protocol launches, storytelling should focus on deep liquidity, low fees, and broad integration cases (PayPal, Lotte, S&P, RWA $490 million) that are only possible on Arbitrum, while from the developer's perspective, the 10-100x gas efficiency of Stylus and the rollup creation experience of Orbit should be presented through tutorials, workshops, and reference apps. Second, practical participation incentives are needed to reduce governance fatigue. The delegator reward system like DIP should be visualized more transparently (e.g., a monthly 'participation dashboard'), and 'agenda-based small working groups' and off-chain discussions (snapshot, forum) should be repackaged as content to lower participation hurdles. Third, a cross-campaign between 'Orbit-One' should be designed to reduce the risk of liquidity fragmentation. For example, bi-directional incentives between L3 and L2 (bridge fee sponsorship, liquidity migration bonuses) and multi-chain intent demos during 'Orbit Week' should allow users to experience "Arbitrum Everywhere." Execution ideas include ① a series titled 'Stylus in Action for 30 Days' (optimizing ZK co-processors, compression, and cryptographic operations with Rust contracts), ② a quarterly event 'Orbit Builder Summit' (workshops on inter-chain intent, monetization, and security operations), ③ a case study series 'RWA on Arbitrum' (settlement, collateral, and derivative strategies for tokenized government bonds, indices, and stocks), and ④ 'Governance Lightning Talks' (5-minute proposal pitches by representative delegators) as effective measures. User onboarding should maintain the viral aspect of 'Yap to Earn,' but beyond simple social diffusion, it should emphasize quest-type user missions, such as real transactions with PYUSD, RWA deposits and staking, and L3 experiences to increase retention rates. In conclusion, Arbitrum has established itself as a 'real solution' for Ethereum scaling, equipped with liquidity, developers, and partnerships. While Base's retail surge and the technological drive of ZK rollups are fierce, Arbitrum stands firm with proven liquidity pools and modular expansion (Orbit), as well as a multilingual development stack (Stylus). The key moving forward will be to elevate the decentralization stage centered around BoLD, maintain liquidity cohesion due to L3 expansion, and recover governance participation. Content should focus on performance and usability rather than exaggeration, and campaigns should aim for long-term retention rather than short-term attraction. If this balance is maintained, Arbitrum is likely to retain its core chain status in the next cycle as 'undervalued infrastructure' rather than 'overhyped innovation.'