Arbitrum LATAM Report - September 2024
Summary 
September 2024 was a significant month for the Arbitrum LATAM team as we continued our commitment to expanding the Arbitrum ecosystem across Latin America. Our emphasis on academic partnerships, community engagement, and content delivery has generated significant interest and participation within LATAM communities. As we wrap up our Stage 2 grant, we reflect on our achievements and the new opportunities that have emerged from this effort.
Final Grant Report — End of Stage 2?
This report marks the conclusion of the grant awarded to the Arbitrum LATAM project by the Education, Community Growth & Events 2.0 domain.
Throughout this stage, we successfully established collaborations and conducted classes at five universities, effectively engaging with students on the Arbitrum ecosystem. Additionally, we partnered with various ecosystem actors in eight Spaces, facilitating discussions that furthered our community outreach and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
We developed 16 educational articles and updates, providing valuable insights into Arbitrum and its potential applications. Furthermore, we continued our Podcast series, releasing eight new episodes that explored critical topics and showcased different perspectives within the blockchain space.
Looking ahead, we plan to seek a new grant to support our activities in Q4 of 2024, ensuring that we can meet our ongoing commitments to universities and maintain our partnerships effectively. We intend to close Stage 2 after the conclusion of Q4 2024.
September Activities 
Academic Collaborations 
Class at UCEMA University
The Arbitrum LATAM team established a new partnership in September with UCEMA university. We conducted a two-hour class on the university’s Crypto-Club focusing on the Arbitrum DAO, its functioning, and its key actors. The class allowed students to engage with the concepts of decentralization and governance, highlighting how the Arbitrum DAO empowers community participation in decision-making processes.
The students and professors showed great enthusiasm, asking insightful questions about the practical implications of DAOs and the future of decentralized governance in the blockchain ecosystem. Feedback from both students and faculty indicated a desire for more in-depth collaborations in the future, further solidifying our relationship with UCEMA.
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What’s next? :male-student: :female-student:
We have several more collaborations planned for Q4 of 2024, including our first partnership established with universities from Chile. This new collaboration aims to broaden our outreach and engagement in the region, helping to promote blockchain education and the Arbitrum ecosystem, though it is just the tip of the spear: we are in contact with several universities in Chile, but also in Uruguay and Colombia. Our project is looking to stablish meaningful connections for 2025.
Additionally, we are working on developing specialized workshops that cater to the unique needs of these institutions, ensuring that our educational efforts are tailored and effective. By building these partnerships, we hope to create a network of educational resources and opportunities that will benefit students and faculty alike, and contribute to the growth of the Arbitrum community across Latin America in 2025.
Spaces & Meets 
In September, we hosted a series of discussions with various ecosystem projects, continuing to foster collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the community.
Space in the Space — Mountain Protocol (September 20).
Space in the Space — Arbitrum Security Council (September 27).
Space in the Space — BoulderTech (October 4).
Podcast Episodes 
Episode 15: How to Collaborate and Get a Grant — In this episode we delve into Arbitrum’s initiatives around grants and how to obtain funding and actively collaborate in building web3 solutions.
Episode 16: Arbitrum Projects & Solutions — In this episode, we explore the solutions currently available on Arbitrum for transacting and taking advantage of decentralized finance. We also discuss non-financial applications and NFT marketplaces, taking a look at Arbitrum’s ever-growing ecosystem.
Educative Content & Informatives 
In September, we continued to deliver insightful content to our community through our usual formats.
Educational Articles: This month’s article outlines the several grant programs within the Arbitrum ecosystem, including Uniswap-Arbitrum, Pluralistic Grants, and Questbook. It offers guidance on applying effectively, emphasizing transparency, realistic goals, and active community engagement.
Bi-Weekly Updates: We had two updates this month. One covered the Timeboost AIP proposal, which aims to introduce a new transaction ordering system in Arbitrum to capture ethical Miner Extractable Value (MEV) and generate revenue for the DAO. The second article focused on the Arbitrum Security Council elections, highlighting the 13 qualified candidates, and celebrated Arbitrum One surpassing 1 billion transactions since its launch. It also mentioned a DAO proposal to sponsor the Ethereum Protocol Attackathon, an event aimed at improving blockchain security.
Newsletter: Our newsletter highlights key developments in September 2024, including a critical software update by the Arbitrum Security Council to address vulnerabilities in Arbitrum One and Nova. It also discusses a proposal for a $1.5 million budget aimed at enhancing Arbitrum’s presence through in-person meetings and events in 2025, while examining the DAO’s maturity and challenges. Additionally, it covers the rise of cryptocurrency trading in Bolivia following the Central Bank’s lifted ban, Binance’s full launch in Argentina, tokenization initiatives in the agricultural sector, and Uruguay’s new digital asset regulation. Lastly, it notes a surge in Ethereum transaction fees and the increasing relevance of Layer 2 solutions like Arbitrum in addressing scalability issues.
Will there be a 3rd Stage?
No. While we are looking to continue the Stage 2 until the end of 2024, we will not be pursuing a third stage of funding as we will transition toward a sustainable model for the Arbitrum LATAM initiative. With the groundwork laid during our previous stages, we are now focused on establishing Arbitrum LATAM as a key Ecosystem Support Actor in 2025. This shift signifies a move from grant-funded pilot projects to a long-term strategy aimed at fostering deeper partnerships, enhancing educational outreach, and driving innovation within the Arbitrum ecosystem across Latin America.
Ecosystem Support Actor
Arbitrum LATAM envisions its role as a critical Ecosystem Support Actor essential for the growth and sustainability of the Arbitrum ecosystem in the region. By acting as a bridge between the Arbitrum protocol and local stakeholders—including universities, startups, and corporations—we aim to facilitate collaboration, enhance educational outreach, and drive innovation within the community.
Our focus for 2025 includes:
- Educational Outreach: Partnering with universities to develop tailored programs that create a talent pipeline for the Arbitrum ecosystem.
- Innovation Incubation: Organizing buildathons to support early-stage ideas and facilitate their development into viable projects.
- Ecosystem Connectivity: Engaging with businesses and projects in LATAM to promote Arbitrum’s integration into their platforms, enhancing overall adoption and usage.
By focusing on university partnerships and corporate outreach, we aim to nurture talent and projects that can contribute to the ecosystem’s growth. We will address gaps not currently covered by either the Arbitrum Foundation or the DAO, enabling us to support initiatives that encourage adoption and engagement across the region.
Our collaborative efforts will not overlap with the responsibilities of the Arbitrum Foundation or DAO; instead, we will work in tandem to fill specific gaps in educational outreach and corporate engagement that are currently underserved. This approach ensures that our initiatives reflect community needs and priorities, ultimately creating a strong, interconnected blockchain community in LATAM.
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Thank you for taking the time to read! Your input and feedback are highly valuable to us, so don’t hesitate to share your thoughts.
The Arbitrum LATAM Team.