DL Research Presents: The Arbitrum Ecosystem

A look at the Arbitrum L2 ecosystem using DefiLlama data.

Arbitrum is a premier Layer 2 blockchain built by Offchain Labs. It emerged from the initial L2 adoption wave with a clear advantage in DeFi depth, capturing early traction in perpetuals through GMX and establishing a strong base of liquidity in DEXs like Uniswap and Camelot. Incentive programs such as the Arbitrum Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP) further entrenched liquidity and onboarding momentum.

Today, stablecoin inflows indicate steady capital rotation into the network, while user and transaction counts show a base of activity that persists beyond these initial short-term campaigns.

This dashboard is designed to surface where liquidity is moving, which protocols are gaining share, and what trends are starting to accelerate. It captures Arbitrum’s competitive position while pointing to the onchain signals that matter for the next phase of growth.

http://arbitrum.io

Further reading:

→ Arbitrum Ecosystem Mapping & Positioning Recommendations

→A Comparative Ecosystem Analysis of Arbitrum's Positioning in DeFi w/ Castle Labs

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According to the July 2025 Arbitrum Treasury Management by Entropy Advisors, Arbitrum's Treasury Management portfolio grew 35% M-o-M to $79.6m, accruing $161,100 in yield & interest.

Asset allocations:

→ RWA: $46.8m (+69.7% M-o-M change)

→ ETH & ETH-correlated: 27.8m (+48.8% M-o-M change)

→ Inactive stablecoins (-60.2% M-o-M change)

Noteable events throughout the month include:

→ $11.6m USDC received from ARB liquidations

→ $19.1m deployed into RWAs; BENJI (Franklin Templeton), WTGXX (WisdomTree), and USTBL (Spiko).

→ $15.6m wstETH deployed into Aave, Camelot, Fluid, and Lido

Arbitrum DEXs

Arbitrum is one of the most active L2s for DEX trading, with volumes that consistently rival or surpass those of smaller L1s. The network’s liquidity is concentrated in Uniswap, Camelot, Curve, and Balancer, each serving different segments of the market. Uniswap dominates spot trading with deep pools for major pairs. Camelot, a native protocol, captures niche pairs and offers customisable liquidity through its dual-AMM design. Curve remains the stable-swap hub, while Balancer supports weighted and composable pools that underpin yield strategies.

The dashboard below displays DEXs available on Arbitrum, with a look at fees generated, price-to-fees ratios, and cumulative spot volume.

Arbitrum's RWA Ecosystem

Check out Castle Lab's latest deep dive into Arbitrum's RWA ecosystem.

Yields on Arbitrum

Arbitrum’s yield landscape combines blue-chip lending markets, high-volume perpetuals funding, and deep AMM liquidity. Aave V3 leads the sector with supply opportunities in assets like wstETH, wETH, wBTC, and weETH, benefiting from consistent borrow demand across majors. GMX V2’s perpetual markets contribute attractive funding-driven yields, particularly in ETH-USDC and WBTC.B-USDC pairs.

On the AMM side, Uniswap pools such as WETH-USDC remain core for stable yield generation, supported by high turnover and low impermanent loss. PancakeSwap adds niche opportunities like the WETH-GFC pool, which offers exposure to newer ecosystem tokens with elevated fee potential.

The dashboard below details yield opportunities, including amount lent, amount borrowed, and LTV.

Further, Arbitrum's derivatives market is explored with Perpetuals and Options Protocols dashboards. This includes a look at category leaders GMX and Ostium.

Arbitrum's DeFi Renaissance Incentive Program (DRIP)

DRIP is a 12-month initiative from the Arbitrum DAO allocating 80m ARB to grow DeFi activity across four seasons.

Rewards run in two-week epochs, streamed linearly and claimable via the DRIP front-end or Merkl. Season One (Sep–Jan) focuses on lending markets, distributing up to 24m ARB across participating protocols including Aave, Morpho, Fluid, Euler, Dolomite, and Silo.

Allocations shift dynamically each epoch based on performance, meaning the most active and efficient pools capture greater rewards.

Blog Post

DRIP Website

Extras

More highlights on Arbitrum, including Trending Contracts.

Trending Contracts retired

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