Arbitrum Sees Surge in Protocol Revenue and EIP-7702 Adoption Following ArbOS 40 Upgrade

The ecosystem on Arbitrum keeps flaunting its robust foundations, with a steady incline in the revenues of its protocols and a wave of user activity that has surged after recent upgrades to the network.

Last week, all the protocols that call Arbitrum home collectively pulled in $1.16 million in revenue, marking a week-over-week gain of 1%. While it might appear at first glance to be a somewhat lame gainer, almost like a stablecoin, this is a much healthier and more potent demonstration of the DeFi movement inside Arbitrum.

This momentum hinges on the successful deployment of ArbOS 40, the latest operating system upgrade for Arbitrum. This release has substantially increased the use of EIP-7702 smart accounts, with upward of 1 million authorizations tallied across more than 25 delegated contracts—achieved in less than three days since the upgrade went live.

GMX Continues to Lead the Arbitrum Revenue Charts

Of all the protocols contributing to Arbitrum’s impressive weekly earnings, GMX remains the strongest performer. The perpetuals and spot trading platform brought in $431,000 in revenue, making it the leading revenue generator in the ecosystem. GMX’s dominance is a testament to the continued appetite for on-chain derivatives trading and the platform’s growing base of active traders and liquidity providers.

In second place was Gains Network, another protocol from the DeFi space that deals in derivatives, which racked up a tidy $154,000 in revenue. Its nearly top-tier status in the leaderboard indicates that traders want to use the kinds of trading instruments that Gains Network offers—those trading in synthetic, leveraged assets.

Ostium Labs, a newer but quickly growing actor in the ecosystem, came in third, adding $102,000 to the weekly total. Its presence in the top three indicates that newer protocols are starting to take a major share of the market, especially as they use creative means to pull in users.

Another significant entry is Uniswap, the dominant DEX protocol, raking in $67,000. Penpie, a yield optimization platform, pulled in $60,000. These numbers showcase the variety of successful applications within Arbitrum’s DeFi space, from trading to yield farming to staking strategies.

EIP-7702 Smart Accounts See Explosive Uptake

Technological progress is almost as essential as financial metrics on Arbitrum, especially after the launch of ArbOS 40. One of the critical functions of this upgrade is the integration of EIP-7702-compatible smart accounts—an innovation intended to increase flexibility and boost user control over the smart wallet experience.

Within just a few days of launch, over one million authorizations were recorded across more than 25 contracts that are now leveraging the EIP-7702 standard. This rapid uptake is indicative not of just developer interest but also user interest that suggests Arbitrum’s smart accounts will soon be a part of user experience.

This text suggests, without being explicit, that the community is welcoming updates to the Arbitrum network’s infrastructure, such as ArbOS 40. This is good news, so far as it goes, because you want any updates to a protocol to be welcome by its community. And you want those updates to be accepted by as many people as possible.

A Strengthening Foundation for DeFi Growth

Overall, Arbitrum is demonstrating a solid and steady path toward transformation and maturation. Its revenues—and those of the protocols residing atop its Layer 2—are growing, both in total and in terms of the sustained necessary consistency that all ambitious DeFi protocols must attain if they are to be deemed successful. All of this growth is occurring in a Layer 2 ecosystem built atop Ethereum, the smart contract platform that is currently most widely used and most fertile for innovation.

Arbitrum is a hub for smart contract user experience innovation, supporting both established giants like GMX and new players like Ostium Labs in a balanced competitive environment. As such, it is not just a DeFi hub. It also invites the sort of explosive adoption that gives us smart accounts, a nascent user experience layer. That experience is a crucial part of the effusive EIP-7702 narrative.

If the present trends persist, Arbitrum is set not just to hold its place atop the Ethereum Layer 2 stack, but also to change the very nature of how users interact with decentralized protocols. Consistent protocol revenue, developer innovation, and user engagement paint a very nice picture indeed for Arbitrum’s next act.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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