Arbitrum DAO, the governance body overseeing the Arbitrum ecosystem, is currently holding a vote on whether to extend its Orbit chains to networks beyond Ethereum.
The proposal made by the Arbitrum Foundation is undergoing an initial “temperature check” vote on Snapshot and will conclude on August 1, 2024.
The foundation proposed growing its Arbitrum expansion program, previously limited to blockchains deriving security from Ethereum — typically Layer 2 blockchains.
The existing program permits entities to fork the Arbitrum codebase and launch EVM-compatible Orbit Chains. These are customizable blockchains developed using Arbitrum’s software stack. Developers can tailor the chain to specific needs, choosing elements like transaction throughput, gas token, governance, and more. They can be configured to settle directly on Ethereum.
If the latest proposal is approved, it would allow new Orbit chains to launch on diverse blockchain networks, including Bitcoin, Binance Smart Chain, and Cosmos.
The latest proposal noted that there’s interest from projects keen to develop Orbit chains outside of Ethereum, prompting the foundation to revisit the program’s existing limitations. The suggested change could lead to more Orbit deployments, increasing revenue for Arbitrum DAO.
Notably, Orbit chains share 10% of their profits to the DAO. The proposal also suggested that the expansion could bolster the multi-chain prevalence of the Ethereum Virtual Machine and its upgraded version, Stylus (EVM+).
Initial results on the temperate check vote indicate support for the expansion, with over 99% of the votes backing the proposal.