The total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance applications on Arbitrum, the layer-2 Ethereum network blockchain, has doubled since the start of 2023.

While investors’ hope of an ARBI token airdrop is a major factor attracting activity to the Ethereum scaling network, the ecosystem’s DeFi growth is also showing robust growth. 

Arbitrum has become a major hub for decentralized derivatives trading and offers high yields for crypto yield hunters, reminiscent of

The Radiant community smoothened the vesting schedule for tokens and added a 5% liquidity provision requirement to RDNT trading pairs on decentralized exchanges of a user’s total liquidity to earn RDNT emissions. Beyond that, Radiant will also bring to life its cross-chain money market facility with expansion to five more chains.

There’s also evidence of funds accumulating Arbitrum ecosystem tokens. Reportedly, Arca Investments, a digital asset firm, is accumulating Arbitrum ecosystem tokens like GMX, Dopex (DPX), and Radiant Capital (RDNT). Data from Nansen also shows a significant increase in balances for RDNT tokens among smart money wallets identified by the analytics firm.

The DeFi ecosystem development on Arbitrum shows promise for sustainable growth, especially in the decentralized derivatives trading space. There’s a strong possibility that some users could be using Arbitrum only for the ARBI token airdrop. However, the recent Optimism and Blur token airdrops have shown that user activity doesn’t necessarily subside after an airdrop. Instead, it gives an opportunity for platforms to incentivize additional usage.