ARB's Wake-Up Call: A Critical Pivot is Necessary

[newze]

I have to say that the current large-scale grant incentives are a failed experiment. I support shifting the direction and strategy.

At present, the incentives have not brought a more prosperous ecosystem to Arbitrum. Instead, as the benefits fade away, a severe decline has occurred. The Arbitrum DAO should directly allocate some incentives to users, such as launching a new Odyssey program to create more rewards for ordinary users. As for spending on ecosystem projects, due to the lack of real-name authentication for EVM wallets, nobody knows where these ARB tokens ultimately go, leading to excessive fake transactions and artificial prosperity. Without the official participation and initiatives from Arbitrum, it is difficult for users to gain tangible benefits.

Establishing longer-term incentive goals and plans, as well as cautious spending, is a responsible approach for ARB token investors and will help the DAO build a positive reputation for future prosperity and development.

[cp0x]

I agree that previous grants did not bring as much positive as expected.
However, giving rewards to users without being tied to the project is a bad idea, because as soon as the rewards run out, the users will leave this project.
Therefore, it is necessary to support projects that can retain the user, possibly through direct payments to users, but it must be based on a good and useful project.

[Amira]

Hello,

Thank you for the proposal. I appreciate you bringing in the data to support your proposal. I agree that we need a more fair and efficient design of incentive programs—and more importantly, a sustained one.

@momir_iosg

These projects consistently cite concerns about market dynamics where established protocols have disproportionate influence through substantial ARB grants, which they use to attract users through incentive programs.

An ongoing incentive program with well-defined rubrics will build trust among builders. So far, Arbitrum has only had fragmented efforts at incentive distribution, and even some of those programs have received negative feedback.

@momir_iosg

Arbitrum Orbit has been losing the race to OP stack and currently Arbitrum’s main battle is to ensure its main chain remains the most dominant integrated DeFi hub on Ethereum.

The reason OP Stack has been winning this race is because of the incentives it promises to the superchains and, of course, the narrative around it.

@momir_iosg

Just as leading exchanges prioritize their highest-value users, Arbitrum must focus on providing two fundamental elements: deep liquidity and access to high-demand assets in the spot market.

While I agree with this, another important—albeit clichéd—aspect is the UI of any DeFi platform. Case in point: Hyperliquid. It won so many users because of the ease of use it provided. Some platforms I’ve seen on Arbitrum lack that ease. As a community, we should also delve into this aspect, and DeFi platforms eager to grow should be given constructive feedback to improve.

Lastly, coming back to the point of sustained incentives, we need programs running regularly, as well as a retroactive factor. We should not hesitate to implement programs that have proven successful in other ecosystems.

Thanks again for the proposal. This is a strong starting point but still high-level. I’m hoping to see a more detailed plan with specifics in place to get this proposal up and passed.