It’s easy and fun to use Rainbow to interact with the Arbitrum network—no other wallet makes it easier to interact with Layer 2 networks.
Learn how you can get started with Rainbow Wallet and use it to navigate DeFi, dapps, NFTs and games on Arbitrum!
Don’t have Rainbow? Download it today before you read on.
What is Arbitrum?
Arbitrum is a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, which means it's designed to make Ethereum faster and cheaper to use—so more and more people can use the network without incurring huge costs or having to wait a long time for transactions to confirm. Other Layer 2s on Ethereum include Optimism and Polygon.
To understand what layer 2 means, think of it like a second layer built on top of the main Ethereum network. This second layer processes transactions faster and with lower fees than the main network, but still maintains the security and trustlessness of Ethereum.
Arbitrum is a rollup
Arbitrum uses a rollup to record transactions on Ethereum without the costs associated with Mainnet transactions. Groups of transactions are bundled together off-chain, and then recorded on Ethereum in a large batch.
One simple way you can think about rollups is by likening your transactions to pieces of mail. It would be costly to get a private delivery person to hand-deliver every single individual piece of mail you ever wanted to send to a person. If everyone sent mail this way, it would mean you would have to be available constantly to accept deliveries.
Instead, you take the mail to the post office, and mail is bundled together. The mail is delivered to you once a day, eliminating the need for each piece of mail to come one-by-one.
Rollups are like a post office for Ethereum. Transactions are bundled together on Arbitrum and delivered to Ethereum mainnet in a batch, instead of submitting them to Ethereum one by one.
Optimistic rollups
Arbitrum uses a special kind of rollup:Â an Optimistic rollup.
An optimistic rollup gets its name because it will positively assume that all of the transactions submitted to mainnet are valid. To continue the mail analogy, The post office doesn’t check the addresses on the mail, it just delivers them, assuming that they are correct.
If any inaccuracies are found, there’s a dispute period that ensures that people can challenge a transaction if any mistakes are discovered.
What is the ARB token?
ARB is Arbitrum’s governance token, and was issued to transition Arbitrum into a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, beginning on March 23, 2023.
Token holders will be able to vote on decisions related to the platform. Instead of being controlled by a centralized group of people, anyone can purchase ARB tokens and have a say in the future of Arbitrum.
With ARB’s total circulation of 10 billion…..
- 56% of the tokens will go to the Arbitrum community
- 11.5% of the total supply goes to eligible Arbitrum users
- 1.1% to DAOs operating in the Arbitrum ecosystem.
You can see if you’re eligible for ARB on the Arbitrum Foundation website:
You can learn more about Arbitrum governance and how you can participate by reading the Arbitrum Foundation docs:
How can I get Arbitrum assets on Rainbow?
Arbitrum is built into Rainbow—you don’t need to do anything special to get started, unlike other wallets.
No adding networks, no complicated setup — your NFTs and tokens on Arbitrum will show up in Rainbow right alongside your Mainnet and other Layer 2 assets.
How to bridge assets to Arbitrum on Rainbow
You can transfer your assets from other networks to Arbitrum with just a few taps.
- From the Swaps screen, select the token you’d like to bridge to Arbitrum
- From the receive menu, select Arbitrum from the network selection menu
From there, you’ll be able to complete your transaction. Rainbow will automatically and securely route your bridge through the cheapest and fastest route.
What can I use Arbitrum for?
Just like with Ethereum mainnet, all of these transactions require money for gas fees—the benefit of Arbitrum being that you don’t need a lot of money to complete transactions.
All of the same activities that you enjoy on Mainnet are also available on Arbitrum: DeFi (decentralized finance, NFTs, games, and dapps).
Explore the Treasure Trove
Treasure is a decentralized gaming platform based on an Arbitrum based token, MAGIC. Games made with MAGIC are all interoperable, meaning they share information like in-game currency and assets.
You can explore all the games available to play at the Treasure Trove.
Try Stealcam
Stealcam is a camera web app that lets you create, share, steal, and reveal photos with friends on Arbitrum. It’s completely free to get started and start sharing photos.
User beware: there is no content moderation on Stealcam, so you may encounter images that are Not Safe For Work.
Looking for more?
Check out Arbitrum’s full gallery of dapps to learn more about things you can do on Arbitrum.
