Arbitrum | Crypto

A Manhattan judge modified a restraining notice to let Arbitrum DAO move $71 million in frozen Ether to Aave, while preserving terrorism victims’ legal claim on the funds. A Manhattan federal judge has allowed Arbitrum DAO to move $71 million in frozen Ether to Aave, clearing the path for the DeFi protocol’s recovery effort following a North Korea-linked exploit. Judge Margaret Garnett of the Southern District of New York issued the order on Friday, modifying a restraining notice that had locked the assets inside Arbitrum DAO. The modification permits an onchain governance vote to send the funds to a wallet controlled by Aave LLC, and explicitly protects anyone who participates in the transfer from being held in violation of the freeze. The order still keeps the terrorism victims’ legal claim on the funds, meaning Aave can’t use the funds freely and could be forced to hand them over if the court ultimately rules in the terrorism victims’ favor. Read more

DAO delegates approved releasing exploit-frozen ETH to an Aave-led recovery effort, though Arbitrum’s governance rules delay any transfer for at least eight days

The Snapshot vote would move the recovery effort toward a binding onchain Arbitrum governance proposal. A joint proposal to release the roughly $71 million in Ether frozen after the Kelp DAO exploit is set to pass later on Thursday, moving a cross-protocol recovery effort closer to restoring part of rsETH’s backing. Over 90.5% of the tokens were cast in favor of the motion, representing 173.9 million Arbitrum (ARB) tokens, while 9.4%, or 18.1 million tokens, abstained. Less than 1%, or 1,700 tokens, voted against the proposal before the voting period’s scheduled end at 6:54 pm UTC, according to a Snapshot at the time of writing. Co-authored by Aave Labs, Kelp DAO, LayerZero, EtherFi and Compound, the proposal seeks to unfreeze the 30,765 Ether (ETH) that was frozen by Arbitrum’s Security Council on April 21, days after an attacker drained about 116,500 restaked Ether (rsETH) from Kelp Dao, worth between $290 million and $293 million at the time. Read more

Families holding decades-old judgments against North Korea are trying to seize 30,765 ETH frozen after last month’s rsETH exploit, citing alleged links between the attack and DPRK-linked hacking groups such as Lazarus, and invoking a New York restraining notice that could block Arbitrum from releasing the funds.

More than $21 million in contributions has been made to the "DeFi United" relief effort so far, with another $215 million to be potentially allocated if certain governance proposals succeed. Aave Labs has proposed that the decentralized autonomous organization behind Arbitrum unfreeze $73.5 million in Ether tied to the Kelp DAO attack and to direct those funds to “DeFi United,” a fund aimed at restoring rsETH and compensating its holders. Last week, the Arbitrum Security Council moved to freeze 30,765 Ether (ETH) held in a wallet connected to the $293 million Kelp exploit.  In a proposal posted Saturday on the Arbitrum governance forum, Aave Labs said directing those funds to a planned remediation effort would “restore normal conditions for Arbitrum users” and the wider ecosystem and that the Ether on Arbitrum “represents a material contribution” toward restoring the Kelp DAO restaked ETH (rsETH) token. Read more

Base’s Jesse Pollak says L2s can’t be “Ethereum but cheaper” as builders respond to Vitalik Buterin’s call for specialization. Several layer-2 builders responded after Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the original vision of L2s as the primary scaling engine “no longer makes sense,” calling for a shift toward specialization. In a Wednesday post, Buterin argued that many L2s have failed to fully inherit Ethereum’s security due to continued reliance on multisig bridges, while the base layer is increasingly capable of handling more throughput via gas-limit increases and future native rollups. The comments prompted responses from Ethereum layer 2s, who broadly agreed that rollups must evolve beyond being cheaper versions of Ethereum but diverged on whether scaling should remain central to their role. Read more

Offchain Labs increases its ARB holdings, signaling long-term conviction in Arbitrum as governance token prices slump and layer-2 competition intensifies. 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.” Read more

Robinhood’s tokenization drive on Arbitrum now includes nearly 500 US stock and ETF tokens worth over $8.5 million, as the brokerage deepens its RWA push. Robinhood has expanded its tokenization initiative on the Arbitrum blockchain, deploying 80 new stock tokens in the past few days and bringing the total number of tokenized assets close to 500. According to data from Dune Analytics, Robinhood has tokenized 493 assets with a total value exceeding $8.5 million. Cumulative mint volume has surpassed $19.3 million, offset by around $11.5 million in burning activity, signaling a growing but actively traded market. Stocks account for nearly 70% of all deployed tokens, followed by exchange-traded funds (ETFs) at about 24%, with smaller allocations to commodities, crypto ETFs and US Treasurys. Read more

Arbitrum, the largest Ethereum layer-2 protocol, has launched a new initiative designed to channel liquidity into decentralized finance. The DeFi Renaissance Incentive Program (DRIP), announced on Sept. 3, will allocate up to $40 million in rewards to users performing targeted on-chain actions rather than simply generating attention. The program, structured by Entropy and powered by […] The post Arbitrum launches $40M DeFi incentive amid intensifying L2 race appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Altcoin season has concentrated on select tokens, with OKB surging after a major burn and blockchain launch, Arbitrum sustaining scaling momentum, and Sei advancing through consistent usage growth. Broader flows remain limited but target infrastructure and tokenomic changes. The post OKB, Arbitrum, SEI: The Altcoin Season Trio That Could Make You Filthy Rich appeared first on Cryptonews.

Arbitrum has climbed back toward $0.33 after shedding 7% from yesterday’s peak, while its $2.4 billion TVL, 1 million active wallets, and ties to Robinhood and Binance have reinforced its position as Ethereum’s busiest Layer-2, although the token remains 86% below its all-time high. The post Arbitrum ($ARB) Defies Market Slump: Can the Ethereum L2 Leader Hit $0.59 Next? appeared first on Cryptonews.

Robinhood is reportedly working on blockchain infrastructure that will enable European retail investors to trade US securities, Bloomberg News reported on May 7. According to the report, the brokerage platform is exploring a partnership with a digital asset firm to support the initiative and is considering Arbitrum and Solana as potential blockchain layers. People with […] The post Robinhood reportedly considering Solana, Arbitrum for new blockchain securities platform in Europe appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Arbitrum co-founder Steven Goldfeder has ruled out the L2 becoming a based rollup and was circumspect about becoming a native rollup too. Offchain Labs CEO Steven Goldfeders crypto origin story is classic geek gold. As a student at Princeton, he first heard about Bitcoin in 2013 during a visit day at Princeton. Professor Ed Felten the future inventor of rollups on Ethereum, co-founder of Arbitrum and a White House science advisor gave a five-minute lightning talk about the cost of a government destroying Bitcoin.  Goldfeders curiosity was instantly piqued, and that night, other students hosted a poker game with a half-BTC buy-in. As he says: That was back in the days when that was just ten bucks. If only Id held onto it… Read more