Arbitrum cashed in on LayerZero airdrop but the boost was short-lived

The LayerZero airdrop briefly boosted the number of messages sent on the cross-chain communication network as users claimed their ZRO. The airdrop has been frequently discussed because of the sybil prevention that went into determining allocations, as well as the $0.10 donation to the Protocol Guild necessary to claim each token.

While the launch of the ZRO token didn’t seem to help the LayerZero network recover from the downturn in activity after it was announced the airdrop snapshot had been taken, a different protocol was able to profit.

Arbitrum made $3.38 million in revenue on June 20, the day ZRO airdrop claims began. This was the rollup’s highest day of revenue ever and a sharp turnaround compared to the typically tens of thousands in dollars the network has been making post-Dencun.

As a reminder, the revenue generated by Ethereum Layer 2s is the amount of fees paid on these networks. Many rollups have seen a decline in revenue post-Dencun since users are paying lower fees, but profits have increased for many scaling solutions since the cost to post data on the Ethereum mainnet has gone down dramatically.

Arbitrum's seeing fees this high is indicative of a lot of demand for Arbitrum blockspace, with users willing to pay a premium to get their transactions executed on the network.

This does make sense, given that Arbitrum was the coordination chain for the LayerZero token claims contract. This meant claims could be processed atomically on Arbitrum, whereas the other networks one could claim on needed to use a cross-chain message on the LayerZero network to facilitate the claim.

Naturally, as the token went live, many users flocked to Arbitrum to make their claim, causing the median gas price on the network to spike up to 34.7 gwei, up from just 0.01 gwei earlier in the day, which forced transaction fees to skyrocket.

It is not uncommon for airdrop claimants to want to receive their tokens as fast as possible, especially if they plan to sell their allocation. Many tokens, like ZRO, face a sharp selloff after being distributed, which causes a need to claim and sell the token as soon as possible to lock in the best price.

The phenomenon was short-lived, with Arbitrum making just $51,000 on June 21, back within the network's typical range. But on June 20, Arbitrum only paid $37,820 to publish data on the Ethereum mainnet, meaning it got to keep the vast majority of the millions it brought in, helping boost the DAO's coffers.

This is an excerpt from The Block's Data & Insights newsletter. Dig into the numbers making up the industry’s most thought-provoking trends.