Mini Apps Initiative: Recap After 3.5 Months
It’s been three and a half months since my first post about Mini Apps. Since then, the joint initiative by Arbitrum Foundation (AF) and OCL has put significant time, resources, and energy into this growing initiative.
Our activities can be grouped into three main categories:
- Mini Grants for Builders
- Builder Support Group
- Team Collaboration between OCL, AF, and Arbitrum DAO
1. Mini Grants for New Mini Apps
We launched the Mini Grants Program with this announcement post:
https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0x5390cdd3
Our goal was simple:
“We’re leaping into the Farcaster ecosystem because we believe DeFi can be the backbone for viral social mini apps and consumer-friendly finance.”
Many Mini App-native projects were launched and received Arbitrum grants (managed by Hunter from OCL).
You can check the winners announcement posts here:
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0xfda29b9d
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0xbfc7426b
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0xf05ecd8f
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0xf6b60915
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0xf6391a28
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0xe1d71666
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0x8e7c397a
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0x4f396fe0
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0x948183a3
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0xbb6c1e85
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0x13054021
- https://farcaster.xyz/arbitrum/0x502737e1
Overall:
- 60 Mini Apps were launched and received grants (some by the same builders).
- 9 apps added Arbitrum support while being primarily built on Base — including examples like Noice (tipping app) and Clanker (token launchpad).
A few interesting indicators
Graph: Arbitrum transactions on Farcaster
Dune link: https://dune.com/queries/5668899/9208453
Graph: Transactions by Chain
At the peak point, Arbitrum transactions made up 8.6% of all transactions (analyzing the top 500 most-followed FC users).
Dune: https://dune.com/queries/3027146/5036846
To follow the KPIs of this initiative, check out the Dune Dashboard:
https://dune.com/bfresh/farcaster-arbitrum
This week marks the end of the incentives program for Mini App builders on Arbitrum Season 1. Season 2 has been mentioned, but not officially announced yet.
2. Builder Support Group
The Arbi Cabal (or Arbi Fam) group currently includes 63 builders, with members from OCL, AF, and Arbitrum DAO.
While the impact is hard to measure directly, the group created a clear positive effect. Builders felt welcome, supported, and encouraged to share progress.
A major benefit of having such a strong group of builders was the ability to push for Arbitrum integrations with existing apps and infrastructure providers.
When this initiative started, Farcaster wallet support for Arbitrum tokens was clunky and buggy. By continuously requesting improvements from the Farcaster dev team, the wallet is now almost perfect for handling Arbitrum tokens.
Another key milestone was Clanker adding support for Arbitrum tokens. Just a few days ago, the total market cap of Clanker tokens on Arbitrum reached $1M.
Dune: https://dune.com/queries/5693819/9245794
3. Team Effort: OCL, AF, and Arbitrum DAO
This initiative also showed the power of collaboration. It was great connecting with people like Hunter (OCL) and Ben and Lorenzo (AF) throughout the process.
When we combine efforts, we see results, even in competitive spaces like Mini App development.
A recent report by @CastleCapital compares builders across Arbitrum, Base, Solana, and Optimism (I encourage everyone to read it 
):
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/arbitrum-d-a-o-grant-program-season-3-official-thread/28753/35
While Base and Solana currently outperform us, that’s no reason to stop experimenting. The effort we put in was meaningful and so were the results.
As Hunter from OCL once said during our chats: “Arbitrum is building a country of many cities.”
One of those cities should be consumer apps, like Mini Apps, and I believe we should keep pushing this direction forward.