# ARBITRUM INTRODUCTION

By [Untitled](https://paragraph.com/@0x8abccc8247e8204d99a1cf3dad62f378170d3685) · 2022-06-05

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Anyone with $5,000 or less is paying >1% of their portfolio in fees to use DeFi.

It’s getting too expensive to [live in Manhattan](https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/defi-in-eth2-cities-suburbs-farms). And I don’t expect Manhattan to suddenly get cheaper—in fact, I expect mainnet transactions to continue increasing in [economic density](https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/-whats-an-etherean-nic-carter) (_e.g. higher cost + higher value transactions_).

But right now this situation is pricing out users and sending them to more centralized ecosystems. I don’t blame them—no one should have to pay a material amount of their portfolio to swap tokens.

DeFi needs to be accessible for _everyone_, not just the crypto rich.

Last week marked the launch of [Arbitrum](https://portal.arbitrum.one/), a promising Layer 2 scaling solution built on [optimistic rollups](https://docs.ethhub.io/ethereum-roadmap/layer-2-scaling/optimistic_rollups/) (_ORU_).

Like other Layer 2 rollups, Arbitrum inherits Ethereum’s security guarantees. **This makes it just about as secure as the base layer**.

Arbitrum is here, but the training wheels are still on. Fees are lower than Ethereum, but they’ll get with increased usage ([_watch this_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W33LtejihY8&t=1505s)). Eventually the training wheels come off and Arbitrum will become fully decentralized—just not yet.

Arbitrum and Optimism now. Then EVM zk-rollups. And then eventually Ethereum data sharding will massively boost the throughput of all Layer 2. 🚀

I’m convinced Ethereum has the [best scaling roadmap in crypto](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethfinance/comments/pk57n7/why_rollups_data_shards_are_the_only_sustainable/).

Why?

Cause it doesn’t sacrifice decentralization.

No shortcuts.

Here’s our first essential guide to Arbitrum.

\- RSA

_P.S. If you’re into sports collectibles, check out_ [_SoRare_](https://bankless.cc/SoRare)_. You can collect official football (soccer) player cards as NFTs and use them in fantasy games!_

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*Originally published on [Untitled](https://paragraph.com/@0x8abccc8247e8204d99a1cf3dad62f378170d3685/arbitrum-introduction)*