Curious about a word? Tap a dotted term for its meaning.

Arbitrum

ARB CMC #58 in the snapshot

An Ethereum scaling ecosystem whose flagship chain, Arbitrum One, executes transactions separately and settles its results on Ethereum.

Profile checked 14 Nov 2026Asset ranks captured 14 Nov 2026Snapshot & methodology ↗

01 / THE PURPOSE

What is Arbitrum for?

Arbitrum One gives Ethereum-style applications a shared execution environment with transaction costs spread across batches. This profile focuses on One; Nova uses a different data-availability model, and independently configured Arbitrum chains can have different assumptions.

02 / THE ARCHITECTURE

Three questions about the machinery.

How does it agree?

Consensus & security

A sequencer orders transactions, while the optimistic protocol allows disputed execution claims to be challenged on Ethereum. BoLD governs the dispute process. A sequencer receipt, an Ethereum inclusion, and completion of the settlement process are different milestones.

Where do instructions run?

Execution model

Nitro runs EVM-compatible applications and publishes Arbitrum One transaction data to Ethereum. Contracts can hold assets and call other contracts; a bridge connects the separate Ethereum and Arbitrum account states.

What is the token for?

ARB in the system

ETH pays gas on Arbitrum One. ARB supplies voting power in Arbitrum governance, including treasury and upgrade decisions; holding ARB does not itself validate blocks or remove the need for ETH.

03 / THE DESIGN CHOICES

What comes with the design?

Each architecture makes choices about security, performance, coordination, and who can participate.

Sequencer availability, bridge contracts, upgrade powers and dispute participation remain relevant dependencies.
A third-party fast withdrawal adds its own liquidity and counterparty assumptions; it does not erase the native settlement process.

04 / IN PRACTICE

Follow one use.

Illustrative: a wallet holding ARB but no ETH can participate economically in the ecosystem yet lack gas for an ordinary Arbitrum One transfer. Buying a governance token and paying for execution are separate actions.

05 / CHECK THE EXPLANATION

Sources & snapshot.

Network descriptions use the references below. The CoinMarketCap snapshot determines which assets are in scope and their captured rank; it does not assess the quality of a network.

Introduction to Arbitrum Offchain Labs / Arbitrum documentation contributors
Arbitrum DAO governance overview Arbitrum Foundation
Arbitrum chain parameters Offchain Labs / Arbitrum documentation contributors
CoinMarketCap top 100 snapshot Captured 14 Nov 2026 · See the complete scope audit
Arbitrum (ARB) on CoinMarketCap Captured asset rank #58

Profile checked 14 Nov 2026. Network designs and ranked positions can change.