Arbitrum DAO votes to approve $215 million gaming ecosystem fund

Ethereum Layer 2 network Arbitrum's governance platform approved a proposal to allocate 225 million ARB, currently worth about $215 million, over three years to support gaming projects on the network. 

The proposal — put forward by Vela Exchange co-founder Dan Peng — will allocate 225 million ARB tokens worth about $215 million at current prices over three years to a newly-created Gaming Catalyst Program (GCP), which is designed to "...immediately expand awareness and adoption of Arbitrum/Orbit/Stylus by builders and players in the Gaming community," according to the proposal. 

First unveiled in March, the proposal officially passed on Friday with over 75% of votes in support. Organizations that significantly supported the proposal include L2Beat, Wintermute, and gaming-focused Treasure DAO, while Blockworks Research and Camelot DAO numbered among those who voted against. 

"Arbitrum is the home of gaming – this includes all of the games, the gaming chains, and all of the builders within its orbit. Let's make some magic happen," wrote Treasure DAO on X in response to the proposal's passage. 

Much of the fund is earmarked for publishers, with new and early-stage developers getting the chance to apply for grants worth a maximum of 500,000 ARB (about $483,000 at current prices) while more established developers must apply for investments with a value share component through tokens, equity, or similar means. The rest of the funds will be allocated to infrastructure-related bounties and operational expenses. 

Day-to-day operations will be run by a dedicated GCP team, though the program will be overseen by a council of "5 individuals with deep gaming, venture experience, analytics/reporting, and/or DAO governance skills," elected by the DAO with the capacity to veto investment decisions and team member appointments. The GCP team's budget cap has been set at $25 million for operational expenses, with any excess expenditures requiring approval from the DAO. 

The price of Arbitrum's token fell about 12% from its maximum value of $1.10 on Friday to about $0.97 as of press time following the conclusion of the voting period, according to The Block's Price Page. 

Correction: The proposal was not put forward by Arbitrum Foundation as previously stated, but by Dan Peng.