Offchain Labs, the primary developer behind Arbitrum, has purchased additional ARB tokens, signaling long-term conviction in the network at a time when sentiment across the sector has weakened, and governance token prices have faced sustained pressure.
In a post on X this week, Offchain Labs said it remains “committed to growing the Arbitrum ecosystem in a meaningful way,” adding that it has increased its direct exposure to Arbitrum (ARB) under an approved purchase plan.
The development company said the move reflects its intention to continue “doubling down on the development of Arbitrum in all respects.”
Arbitrum is an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network designed to improve transaction speed and reduce fees by processing transactions off-chain and then settling them on Ethereum. It uses optimistic rollups, a technique that bundles transactions and assumes they are valid unless challenged, allowing users to benefit from Ethereum’s security while lowering costs.
Offchain Labs’ renewed commitment is notable amid broader concerns that core contributors and early stakeholders across the cryptocurrency industry may be reducing exposure to governance tokens.
In Arbitrum’s case, ARB functions primarily as a governance asset, giving holders voting rights over proposals related to network upgrades, funding initiatives and ecosystem strategy rather than direct claims on protocol revenue.
Related: ‘The claim that L2s inherit ETH security is erroneous’ — Solana co-founder
Arbitrum competes for a share of the DeFi pie
The development comes as the Arbitrum network has recently crossed several notable milestones, underscoring its growing scale and activity.
According to figures shared by Arbitrum, the network has processed over 2.1 billion lifetime transactions on Arbitrum One, its primary Ethereum layer-2 rollup. Arbitrum One is the flagship chain where most user activity and DeFi applications are concentrated.
Arbitrum also reported reaching $20 billion in total value secured in 2025, consistently ranking as the largest Ethereum layer-2 by market share.
By comparison, rival layer-2s such as Optimism and Base have generally reported lower levels of value secured, despite strong growth in application activity.
These competitors are vying for a share of Ethereum’s roughly $68 billion DeFi market, despite taking divergent approaches, particularly in the case of Arbitrum and Optimism (OP).
Base, meanwhile, does not have a native token, although there is ongoing market speculation that one could eventually be introduced.
Related: Coinbase distances Base from highly criticized memecoin that dumped $15M
