Arbitrum DAO passes $23M extra budget to fund all grant applicants

The Arbitrum DAO has confirmed the disbursement of millions in extra tokens to fund all projects approved on its latest Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP), boosting its budget by $23.4 million.

The proposal, voted by the Arbitrum community between Nov. 18 and Dec. 2, sought to distribute additional funds for projects approved for a grant but not funded due to the STIP’s cap of 50 million ARB tokens. The recent vote will result in the distribution of 21.1 million ARB tokens worth $23.4 million to an additional 26 projects.

The supplementary capital was approved by 216.7 million votes in favor to 73.1 million against, bringing STIP’s total budget to 71.4 million ARB tokens. The round will fund 56 projects to “support diverse, emerging builders” and create a welcoming environment for new projects.

Arbitrum is a layer-2 networking designed to scale transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, allowing funds to be transferred more quickly and at a lower cost. The protocol is governed by ARB tokens holders and generates revenue through transaction fees.

DefiLlama data shows that Arbitrum generated over $180,165 in fees and $43,342 in revenue just on Dec. 1. In November, its fees totaled $5.93 million, while its revenue reached $1.47 million.

The new budget includes funding for Gains Network (4.5 million ARB), Wormhole (1.8 million ARB), and Stargate Finance (2 million ARB). PancakeSwap withdrew a 2 million ARB proposal due to STIP’s Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.

The approval of additional funding was not without controversy. Against the decision, delegates from MUX protocol argued that extra funding would mix projects of varying quality. “Proposals with good protocol fundamentals, proper incentives execution strategies and reasonable grant size should be supported, but not in a bundle of proposals with mixed quality,” they wrote.

In addition, other Arbitrum DAO members argued that a full second round instead of a backfund would have been “a more fair way to include additional protocols in an incentives program.”

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