Summary
This SOS matrix prioritizes distribution-oriented objectives to onboard and retain users, in order to drive Arbitrum’s growth in liquidity and usage.
Over the next two years, the strategy targets three key areas through various objectives:
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Mobile Experience: Launch a dedicated Arbitrum mobile wallet and integrate Arbitrum into popular mobile apps to improve accessibility and adoption.
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Social Presence: Build Arbitrum-powered AI agents, bots, plugins, and mini-apps for social platforms, and launch an incentive program to boost awareness and engagement.
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Institutional Adoption: Partner with TradFi institutions to bring more DeFi activity to Arbitrum, and become the top blockchain for tokenized stocks.
Rationale
Arbitrum is still the number one rollup by TVL (according to L2beat), but competition is closing in quickly. TVL growth has stagnated over the past year, as has activity.
The main reason for stagnation is a lack of good distribution, which means onboarding and retaining users. Solana has shown the power of distribution through a dedicated and user-friendly mobile app, which was quickly adopted by younger generations. As well as the adoption of AI agents and crypto AI mindshare in general.
Great distribution brings users, who in turn bring liquidity and onchain activity. That is why this SOS matrix is heavily distribution-oriented.
The main questions that this matrix tries to answer are how to get more people to use Arbitrum, and how to make it easier for them to do so.
Within the next 2 years, we want to achieve the following three goals:
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Arbitrum has best-in-class mobile experience.
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Arbitrum has strong social presence and integrations.
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Arbitrum is the number one choice for institutions.
The main non-capital requirement to reach these goals and objectives is human capital, which involves business development, evaluating offers, and selecting the best partners for each objective.
The main risk associated with all objectives is spending money without achieving the desired results. An additional risk related to Goal 3 is straining relationships with institutions if the collaboration doesn’t pan out as expected. However, these are the risks we should be willing to take in order to bring Arbitrum to the next level by attracting new users and meaningfully increasing its TVL and usage.
All goals and objectives align with Arbitrum’s vision of the universal shift onchain.
Goal 1: Arbitrum has best-in-class mobile experience
For everyday users, having a strong mobile presence is essential. This has become increasingly clear over the past two years, as a competing ecosystem doubled down on mobile and successfully onboarded a large number of users.
Arbitrum shouldn’t be a platform that just sits and waits for users to come to it. In this highly competitive space, a proactive approach is necessary. Expanding Arbitrum’s mobile presence will drive adoption, particularly among younger generations.
Objective 1.1: Onboard and retain users with a dedicated Arbitrum mobile app
Length: 2-year objective
A dedicated Arbitrum mobile app wallet will help onboard new users and retain them within the Arbitrum ecosystem, similar to what Phantom wallet managed to do for the Solana ecosystem.
Crucial elements of such an app are simple UX, in-app browser, and account abstraction. The latter would encompass the ease of creating an account (e.g. Google login) as well as account recovery options. All these are necessary to onboard the next wave of users, especially the ones that are not comfortable managing their own private keys.
The app should also integrate DeFi functionalities such as token swapping, lending, borrowing, etc. Overall, it should feel like a modern fintech app, except built on blockchain (Arbitrum) rather than traditional Web2 infrastructure.
As a DAO, we shouldn’t passively wait if someone will manage to build an Arbitrum-native mobile app. Instead, we should actively engage development teams through a request for offers (RFO) process and provide funding for development. Over time, the app should become self-sustaining, generating enough revenue to cover maintenance and future development.
Key results:
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Key Result 1.1.1: Launch at least one dedicated Arbitrum wallet on iOS and/or Android, preferably within the first year of the start of the objective.
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Key Result 1.1.2: Reach 500,000 mobile wallet downloads within two years of launch.
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Key Result 1.1.3: Maintain a user rating of at least 4 stars on app stores.
Further details:
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A dedicated mobile app could be built by issuing a request for offers (RFO), to which development companies would apply - ideally those that have already built a mobile wallet before and can develop a white-label solution for Arbitrum.
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Arbitrum DAO would then pick one or multiple offers (or none if none fits). Selecting multiple offers could encourage competition between mobile wallets, benefiting both end-users and the Arbitrum ecosystem as a whole.
Objective 1.2: Expand Arbitrum adoption through integrations in existing mobile apps
Length: 2-year objective
There are many existing mobile apps with good traction that could benefit from integrating Arbitrum One. Such an integration could involve credits or loyalty points, or other types of gamification, or more financial integrations such as tipping, sending money between users, or in-app purchases.
The main focus should be on non-crypto apps which goes along with Arbitrum’s vision of the universal shift onchain. With account abstraction, end users wouldn’t even need to know that the app interacts with a blockchain in the background.
Key results:
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Key Result 1.2.1: Get at least five established non-crypto mobile apps to integrate Arbitrum One.
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Key Result 1.2.2: 1000 or more new users (active addresses) due to such integrations.
Goal 2: Arbitrum has strong social presence and integrations
Social media and chat apps are where users spend most of their online time. This is why we need to enhance Arbitrum’s presence there, both through awareness campaigns, and also tools such as AI agents, bots, and mini apps or plugins.
Objective 2.1: Integrate Arbitrum into social networks and messaging apps
Length: 2-year objective
Expand Arbitrum’s presence and usefulness by adding onchain features to popular social networks and messaging apps using bots, agents, and mini-apps.
We’ve seen many interesting use cases where onchain actions were performed through text-based interactions with agents on social media and chat apps. Actions such as creating a wallet, sending tokens, swapping tokens etc., all done through posts or messages within the social platform.
The most commonly used social platforms were X (Twitter), Farcaster, Telegram, and Discord, while the most used blockchains were Solana, Base, and, to some extent, TON.
Performing onchain actions through social media and messaging apps will become more common over time, and it’s important that Arbitrum doesn’t get left behind. That’s why we need to take action to integrate Arbitrum with popular social networks and chat apps.
Key results:
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Key Result 2.1.1: A grants program, RFO, and/or hackathon that supports the development of Arbitrum-powered bots, agents, and mini-apps on existing social media and messaging apps.
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Key Result 2.1.2.: Launch of at least 10 functional bots, agents, and mini-apps for popular social networks (e.g., Twitter/X, Facebook) and chat apps (e.g., Telegram, Discord), which perform onchain Arbitrum actions such as sending and swapping tokens, using DeFi, and copy trading.
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Key Result 2.1.3: A combined user base of 10,000 users across all integrated bots, agents, and mini-apps within two years of launch.
Objective 2.2: Improve Arbitrum’s marketing reach through incentives programs
Length: 2-year objective
Building great Arbitrum-powered products/dApps is just one part of the equation. The other is making sure the products get enough awareness and attention to start onboarding users.
The best way to spread the word about Arbitrum’s ecosystem is through community members, who already understand the value of Arbitrum and its products. However, to maximize their engagement, proper incentives must be in place.
Just as the Delegate Incentives Program (DIP) successfully improved delegate participation in governance, a similar structured program can encourage individuals with strong reach and reputation to actively promote Arbitrum-based products, tools, and applications.
A well-designed marketing incentives program would help scale organic advocacy, making sure that Arbitrum-powered products (e.g. mobile apps, AI agents, DeFi protocols) gain the visibility they need to succeed.
Key results:
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Key Result 2.2.1: Launch an incentives program within the first year, rewarding individuals and teams that bring meaningful awareness and engagement with Arbitrum-powered products.
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Key Result 2.2.2: Reach at least 40 high-impact content creators, influencers, and community leaders participating in the program.
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Key Result 2.2.3: Achieve at least 1 million cumulative impressions on Arbitrum-related content created through the incentives program within two years.
Goal 3: Arbitrum is the number one choice for institutions
With a friendlier regulatory environment, more and more TradFi institutions are seriously considering blockchain integrations.
Now is the time to step up, showcase what Arbitrum can offer, and actively onboard institutions.
Objective 3.1: Bring TradFi to Arbitrum DeFi
Length: 2-year objective
Arbitrum has a lot to offer in DeFi and is one of the chains with the most liquidity. It’s time to put these advantages to good use.
For example, institutions can enable their clients to deposit funds and earn yield through DeFi lending protocols, or integrate onchain crypto trading without relying on centralized exchanges.
As a DAO, we should start actively engaging with TradFi companies and get them onboarded to Arbitrum One.
Key results:
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Key Result 3.1.1: At least five TradFi institutions integrate Arbitrum-based DeFi protocols.
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Key Result 3.1.2: At least two institutions launch their own financial products on Arbitrum (e.g. a tokenized money market fund).
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Key Result 3.1.3: Document these enterprise use cases and publish them as case studies to attract further interest.
Objective 3.2: Make Arbitrum the leading blockchain for tokenized stock trading
Length: 2-year objective
Traditional finance has long relied on outdated infrastructure for trading stocks or equities. Blockchain technology offers a faster, more transparent, and more efficient alternative.
We’ve already seen the power of tokenization through stablecoins. The next logical step is tokenized equities. Not synthetic tokens, but tokens backed by real stocks.
To make this vision a reality, we have to work with institutions which can offer stock custody and meet other regulatory requirements.
Bringing tokenized equities to Arbitrum will provide DeFi protocols with a new type of collateral. It will help TradFi transition to a more efficient tech layer, and give existing crypto users decentralized access to equities.
By becoming the leading blockchain for tokenized stocks, Arbitrum can expand its user base, increase liquidity, and strengthen its position among competitors.
Key results:
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Key Result 3.2.1: Partnership with at least one TradFi institution that can offer tokenized stock issuance.
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Key Result 3.2.2: Achieve $1B+ in tokenized stock trading volume on Arbitrum within 12 months of launch.
References
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Objectives 1.1 and 1.2 are derived from Tempe Techie’s SOS One-Off submission.
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Objective 2.1 is Tekr0x.eth’s SOS One-Off submission.
Further details
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The progress toward reaching the objectives should be tracked through monthly reports.
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Anyone building their own SOS matrix can copy goals and objectives from this matrix, even entire objective texts word-for-word. Just make sure to properly reference it (e.g., in the References section at the end).