As some of the alternative L1 recently start to experience sluggish performance due to network congestion which leads to failing RPC, raising of gas fee rate, and slow transaction, you may want to try the L2 chain which in my opinion offers better experiences (currently!). Arbitrum is an L2 chain beneath Ethereum chain that leverages the security aspect of Ethereum L1. There are several L2 options currently such as Optimism, and Boba, but in my opinion, Arbitrum is the one that gains the most user traction, these can change in the future as there are still many L2 techs still in development. In this article, we will talk through the advantages, disadvantages, and practical steps to dive into Arbitrum, We will talk it through user perspectives, not developer or technology perspectives since it is beyond my capabilities.

Submitting transactions in Arbitrum is insanely fast! The moment you press confirm button on your wallet, you will instantly get transactions confirmation or rejection (lol), no more worries for waiting for your transaction in the limbo of confirmation. The gas fee is a tenth of Ethereum L1 gas fee which is around $1-$10, still a higher cost than other alternative L1 but it is a fair cost for Ethereum level of security (the best security only after Bitcoin network). Currently, Arbitrum still doesn’t have a native token (yet), whether they will introduce a native or not is a matter of speculation, but the possibility is not zero since another L2 like Boba is has its own native token.

Unfortunately, Arbitrum also has suffered RPC failure at several points when FCFS token or NFT launch which create a high amount of transactions at the same time. Bridging your fund using the official Arbitrum bridge is worry-free, but to bridge back into Ethereum L1 is taking 7 days for your fund to be released, there is a workaround regarding this disadvantage which we will talk about it later on.

Now let us dive into the steps required to play on Arbitrum chain.

Metamask is the recommended wallet to use on Arbitrum since most DApps facilitate it and it is easy to use. Configuring your Metamask to be able to connect to Arbitrum is easy, follow these steps: Open your Metamask > Settings > Network > Add Network and fill in the details as follows:

Network Name: Arbitrum One

New RPC URL: https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc

Chain ID: 42161

Currency Symbol: AETH

Block Explorer: https://arbiscan.io

Voila! Your wallet is ready to connect to any Arbitrum DApps

Keep in mind that the gas fee on Arbitrum is paid in ETH, so the safest way is to bridge some ETH first or you can transfer from CEX (some CEX already facilitate transfer ETH directly to Arbitrum such as Binance, etc.). Using Arbitrum official bridge (https://bridge.arbitrum.io/), you can bridge your ETH from Ethereum L1 to Arbitrum. This bridging process usually takes around 15–20 minutes, so sit tight and prepare yourself!

To bridge back your fund from Arbitrum to Ethereum L1 or alternative L1 is recommended to use another bridge protocol since using the official bridge will result in 7 days queue for your fund to be released. Other popular bridges that are usually used are Synapse or Multichain, please note every bridge only facilitates specific assets so please pre-check what assets are accepted (e.g. Multichain only accepts bridging MIM or USDC). This way you can bridge out of Arbitrum in a matter of minutes instead of waiting 7 days.

Most of the projects provide their liquidity in Sushiswap and some of them are in Uniswap, if you are already familiar with these protocols from other chains then it's good to go because the way it works is totally the same.

If not, go to their respective DApps, connect your wallet and make sure it’s already in Arbitrum network. Choose the asset you want to swap from and the asset you want to swap into, check the price impact, and make sure it’s a good price compared to Coingecko. Done!

Disclaimer: For any projects discussed below, the writer may have a bag of the assets

What is it:

Treasure is currently the leading NFT Marketplace on Arbitrum chain. They are currently building a blockchain game called the Bridgeworld utilizing their original NFT Legion. The game is under development and if you are interested you can read in-depth on their website and Discord. The NFT Marketplace is running and still more improvements to come, they already listed some blue-chip NFT on Arbitrum such as Smolbrain, Seed of Life, etc. With many new NFT projects popping up in Arbitrum, surely they will try to list their projects on Treasure.

What to do:

• If you are interested to join the Bridgeworld, learn the detailed mechanism on the docs and acquire the necessary $MAGIC and Legion NFT.

• If you just want to enjoy the $MAGIC token, you can either lock it in a specific period in Atlas Mine for a good APY or provide liquidity on Sushi and stake it on Beefy for juicy APY.

• You can also flip NFT in the Treasure NFT marketplace.

What is it:

Dopex is a Decentralized Option Exchange with the purpose of providing value to options writers and buyers. Dopex uses a dual token system with $DPX as governance and fee accrual token, and $rDPX as the rebate token with more utility still under development. Dopex current product is their SSOV (Single Staking Option Vault) where you can provide an accepted asset to gain on premium from options buyers and farm rewards. In-depth resources regarding Dopex can be found in their academy (https://dopex.notion.site/Dopex-Academy-a6e2a5c7a8e84980b93c5ba04d44c2d5) or join their Discord to find a great community to hangout.

What to do:

• Provide liquidity on Sushi ($ETH — $DPX or $rDPX) or a single asset ($DPX or rDPX) then stake it on Dopex farms to earn APR.

• Deposit accepted asset into Dopex SSOV (open usually end of month or first week of the month), choose the appropriate strike price, lock for 1 epoch (usually monthly), and earn a portion of the premium and farm rewards.

• Purchase options call and settle the asset at the end of the epoch.

What is it:GMX is a decentralized protocol for perpetual, spot trading, and index funds. GMX also uses a dual token system with $GMX accrues 30% of protocol fee revenues and $GLP as the index LP accrues 70%. For in-depth GMX protocol, our smarter friend 0xKepler has already done a very good deep dive, I strongly suggest you read his article before aping in (https://medium.com/@0xKepler/gmx-analysis-a-defi-blue-berry-chip-in-the-making-11ad2d95e1f0)

What to do:

• Swap $GMX or $GLP and stake it on the protocol.

• Trading on GMX platform.

What is it:

Abacus is a unique protocol that relates strongly with NFT. With no token are available to the public yet currently, you can acquire ABC token only from participating in Abacus Crowd. Abacus Crowd is an NFT appraisal for the masses, someone put their NFT to appraise along with the bounty and everyone can put their appraisal value of the NFT along with their staked token. The result of the appraisal is taken from the average value and weighted with the staked token. If your appraisal value is in the range of +-5% from the result, you will get the reward based on the reward distribution calculation. The projects are still in the early phase with roadmap building to Abacus Spot and Abacus Loan for NFT.

What to do:

• Participate in appraisal session and you can either claim the reward in $ETH or $ABC token.

• JONESDAO: Protocol built on top of DOPEX for automatically managed assets with maximized gains.

• Vesta: Borrowing and Lending protocol built on Arbitrum

• Popping up NFT Projects: There are so many incoming NFT Projects on Arbitrum that I also can’t keep up (e.g. Lost Donkey, Smolsharks, Smoliens, etc.)

That's it! If you are interested join us in the Arbitrum kingdom.

If there is questions or some misinformation please nudge me on:

Discord: asincuka#1429

Twitter: @lp_newbie