Crypto Grants Awarded: Arbitrum’s STIP Allocates $40 Million in ARB Tokens to 29 Projects

Crypto Grants Awarded: Arbitrum’s STIP Allocates $40 Million in ARB Tokens to 29 Projects

Crypto News – Arbitrum has successfully concluded the initial round of voting for its Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP), with 29 projects slated to collectively receive 49.6 million ARB tokens, valued at approximately $40 million. The objective is to encourage the further development and utilization of their applications on the Ethereum Layer 2 network.

Leading the grant recipients is the perpetual trading protocol GMX, approved to receive a substantial grant of 12 million ARB tokens, equivalent to $15 million. The decentralized exchange Camelot garnered the highest number of votes. However, notable absence from the list of recipients was the liquid staking solution, Lido Finance.

The grant distribution process witnessed a surge of activity in its final hours, resulting in all proposals meeting the required quorum.

In this round, perpetual protocols, often referred to as “perps,” emerged as the primary beneficiaries, securing 44% of the total grants. This category, championed by GMX, MUX Protocol, Vertex Protocol, and Perennial, enables traders to speculate on the future prices of crypto assets through non-expiring contracts.

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) constituted the second-largest sector to receive grants, capturing 15% of the total grants. Key recipients in this sector included Camelot, Kyber Network, Trader Joe, and Balancer.

Close Calls and Missed Opportunities

Nearly 100 projects submitted funding proposals, with 29 projects succeeding in their grant applications. Another 28 projects achieved the required quorum with over 50% of votes but fell short of the 50 million ARB total funding cut-off. These 28 projects had collectively requested approximately 24.5 million ARB ($19.6 million). Some notable projects in this category were PancakeSwap, Wormhole, Gains Network, and Synapse Protocol.

However, several project proposals did not secure enough votes to receive grants. Notably, the prominent liquid staking protocol Lido Finance missed out, sparking speculation that voters hesitated to provide incentives due to perceived centralizing influences on the Ethereum staking ecosystem. DeFi major Curve Finance also faced a similar outcome and couldn’t secure a grant in this round.