Arbitrum Orbit Ecosystem Exploration: 18 Orbit Chains, Accelerating the Multi-Chain Era of the Ethereum Ecosystem

Author: Karen, Foresight News

January 11 marks a milestone moment for Bitcoin, as the Bitcoin spot ETF has finally been approved after a decade of repeated applications, opening a new door for traditional investors. Ethereum is considered the narrative most likely to rise after this.

Additionally, with Ethereum set to undergo the Dencun upgrade, the EIP centered around EIP-4844 will effectively reduce L2 transaction fees and enhance performance. Consequently, Arbitrum has also become a focal point in the market.

The Arbitrum ecosystem has lived up to expectations, showcasing robust development momentum and immense potential. Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs has also launched Arbitrum Orbit, which allows for the construction of dedicated chains following the OP Stack. While its adoption may not match that of OP Stack, it is expected to accelerate the multi-chain era based on the Ethereum ecosystem.

According to Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, over 50 Arbitrum Orbit chains are currently in development, with predictions of 150 Orbit chains on the mainnet by 2024. Foresight News has compiled a list of around 20 Orbit ecosystem projects for readers to explore.

Offchain Labs' Four Major Product Matrix

Before exploring the Arbitrum Orbit ecosystem, let's first review Offchain Labs' four major product matrices, including Arbitrum One (Rollup), Arbitrum Nova (AnyTrust), Arbitrum Orbit, and Stylus. Among them, Arbitrum One is an L2 Optimistic Rollup that allows developers to migrate smart contracts from Ethereum to L2 with minimal or no modifications. The Arbitrum portal has recorded 275 ecosystem applications, while DefiLlama has counted 442 applications, with a total TVL reaching $2.3 billion.

Arbitrum Nova is built on AnyTrust technology, utilizing a data availability proof committee, making it more suitable for gaming, social applications, and high-transaction-volume DApps.

The Arbitrum Orbit, which this article will elaborate on, allows for the construction of dedicated chains without permission. Each Orbit chain can be configured to use Rollup or AnyTrust, with customizable settings for throughput, privacy, Gas tokens, governance, protocol logic, and independent product roadmaps. It also benefits from the same EVM+ compatibility introduced by Stylus, allowing for the deployment of EVM-compatible smart contracts using Solidity, C, C++, and Rust.

Earlier this month, Arbitrum Orbit added support for custom Gas tokens, allowing Orbit chains to select specific ERC-20 tokens as Gas fees. The importance of this feature is self-evident, as it will help Orbit chains enhance the utility of their native tokens and expand their ecosystems.

Summary of the Arbitrum Orbit Ecosystem

According to Foresight News, there are currently 18 projects that have disclosed plans to launch Orbit chains utilizing Arbitrum Orbit. These projects mainly involve gaming, derivatives, liquidity, NFTs, and aim to leverage the advantages of low-cost transactions/interactions, high throughput, customizable Gas, customizable governance, and flexible security models.

Additionally, Arbitrum has established partnerships with Rollup-as-a-Service platforms Caldera, AltLayer, and Conduit to support developers in launching their custom Rollups.

Xai

Xai is an Arbitrum Orbit L3 gaming dedicated chain co-developed by Offchain Labs and managed by the Xai Foundation (utilizing AnyTrust technology). Xai's documentation indicates that Offchain Labs will develop and service the Xai blockchain under the guidance of the Xai Foundation, and will also provide ongoing marketing support for the Xai network and ecosystem.

Xai is tailored for gaming, aiming to provide gamers with an abstract wallet and account experience, offer developers higher Gas and contract limits, and establish a fully decentralized ecosystem that fosters trust and transparency among all participants.

The primary goal of the Xai Foundation is to promote the development of developers and games within the XAI blockchain ecosystem and attract third-party developers and games to the platform, facilitating effective marketing strategies for games deployed on Xai.

Xai has also launched the 43rd phase of Binance's new token mining, with the Xai token serving as the primary token within the gaming ecosystem for payments related to games and in-game items. The game studio Ex Populus is the first developer to deploy games on Xai, currently developing "Final Form" and "LAMOverse." As of now, Xai has launched its mainnet, and according to the Xai roadmap, its on-chain collectible card game "Final Form" is set to be released in April.

https://xai.games/

Frame

Frame is an Arbitrum Orbit L2 project built for creators and collectors, utilizing the Arbitrum Nitro technology stack, and is set to launch its mainnet on January 31.

In December 2023, Frame announced it had completed a new round of financing, with participation from Electric Capital, 9gag founder Ray Chan, Luca Netz, and former Sushiswap CEO 0xMaki.

RARI Chain

RARI Chain is an EVM-equivalent chain built on Arbitrum, governed by the RARI holder community and RARI DAO in a decentralized manner. Rarible will also integrate RARI Chain into the Rarible protocol (NFT marketplace) and the turnkey marketplace solution Rarible X.

RARI Chain allows users to transact at low costs and supports payments via credit card in ETH, USDC, or USD. This is achieved through the integration of RARI Chain with Arbitrum AnyTrust data availability.

RARI Chain has also partnered with Caldera, Gelato, LayerZero, Magic, Rarible, Thirdweb, and WalletConnect. For example, LayerZero enables developers to create collections that can be seamlessly transferred across chains without fragmentation or external risks; Gasless minting on RARI Chain is powered by Gelato, and Thirdweb has introduced account abstraction and fiat payments to the chain.

https://rarichain.org/

Cometh

In October 2023, the Web3 gaming and DApp development platform Cometh announced it would collaborate with AltLayer (Rollup-as-a-Service project) and Arbitrum to deploy the Layer3 Rollup "Muster." AltLayer will enable developers to launch highly modular application-customized Rollups.

Cometh will also launch the card game Cosmik Battle on Muster, leveraging the large-scale scalability, low costs, and fast confirmation times of Arbitrum Orbit.

https://www.cometh.io/

Syndr

Syndr is an institutional-grade options and futures trading protocol, with its Syndr Chain being an application-specific Layer3 Rollup that will launch as an Arbitrum Orbit chain and operate in collaboration with Caldera. Syndr Chain is already live on the Arbitrum Goerli testnet.

Syndr has also abstracted the underlying architecture to provide a seamless trading experience. Furthermore, Syndr does not charge Gas fees to traders, ensuring that all transactions can be conducted without Gas fees or MetaMask pop-ups.

https://www.syndr.com/zh

Meliora

Meliora is an Arbitrum Orbit L3 that ensures fast and cost-effective transaction processing using the Arbitrum Orbit Rollup Stack, aimed at creating a fixed income/credit-based application ecosystem. Meliora contributor Volatilis is also developing a fixed income and periodic liquidation-free lending protocol called The CREDIT Protocol.

Meliora uses MELIORA or CREDIT to pay Gas fees. According to Meliora's official website, the native token MELIORA aims to build an ecosystem focused on collaboration and economic incentives, which can be reflected in sequencers, Gas, MEV fee sharing, validator staking, governance, and Gas tokens.

The CREDIT Protocol previously announced in late November 2023 that it would launch the second season testnet on December 1, allowing users to test while earning retroactive Meliora token airdrop points. However, no further updates have been released since then.

https://meliorachain.io/

OurSong

OurSong is a social music NFT platform. In April 2022, its developer Our Happy Company completed a $7.5 million seed round of financing, led by Infinity Ventures and Animoca Brands, with participation from Cherubic Ventures, Circle Ventures, and others.

Our Happy Company was co-founded by renowned musicians and producers John Legend, KKBOX founder Chris Lin, and Twitch founder Kevin Lin. Its flagship product OurSong aims to provide a fairer way for creators, including musicians and artists, to offer digital creation services, monetize their works, and build communities.

Arbitrum disclosed in October last year that OurSong had joined the Orbit chain ecosystem, but no further progress has been reported since then.

https://www.oursong.com/

Deri Protocol

Deri Protocol is a decentralized derivatives protocol that launched Deri V4 on the Arbitrum mainnet in late November 2023 with the support of AltLayer. Deri Protocol states that utilizing Arbitrum Orbit, Deri V4 is expected to enhance Arbitrum's coverage across various L1 and L2 networks.

https://deri.io/

Hook Protocol

Hook Protocol is an NFT derivatives DEX that supports both perpetuals and options, having released a preview of the Hook Odyssey testnet in November. Odyssey is a derivatives DEX focused on NFTs, deployed on a custom Arbitrum Orbit Chain.

https://hook.xyz/

Superposition

Superposition is a DeFi-native Layer3 built on Arbitrum, providing a native, permissionless order book that allows any developer to leverage shared deep liquidity while offering a seamless user experience through account abstraction.

Superposition's roadmap includes Superposition Layer (building L3 chains on Arbitrum One), Superposition DEX, and cross-chain capabilities. Superposition is utilizing Orbit technology to achieve dedicated throughput, native account abstraction, and higher performance/lower costs with Stylus.

https://www.superposition.so/

Nitrogen (AltLayer)

The Rollup-as-a-Service protocol AltLayer launched Nitrogen on January 10, which is a public testnet for Arbitrum Orbit, using Celestia as modular DA, protected by Arbitrum Nitro fraud proofs, and integrated with Celestia Blobstream on Arbitrum Sepolia.

With Nitrogen, L2 transaction data will be written as blobs into Celestia instead of being published as Ethereum call data. Once the data is validated by Celestia validators, the generated DA proofs will be stored in the Blobstream DA contract on Ethereum, making calldata costs nearly negligible.

AltLayer states that with Celestia, developers can now deploy Orbit chains like smart contracts with minimal setup time or overhead.

https://altlayer.io/

Parallel Network

Parallel Network is a full-chain Layer2 scaling solution built on Ethereum and powered by Arbitrum Orbit, aimed at unifying liquidity from any chain into one place. Parallel Network is supported by Arbitrum's Nitro stack, Conduit, and the cross-chain interoperability protocol Socket.

Parallel Network also supports Parallel's ERC-4337 account abstraction through collaboration with account abstraction infrastructure Pimlico.

The Parallel Network mainnet is now open to developers, currently allowing users to bridge ETH to Parallel through a preview program. The Parallel website features an airdrop section, but no detailed information has been disclosed.

https://bridge.parallel.fi/

Kinto

The Layer2 network Kinto was originally a KYC-compliant Layer2 network based on OP Stack, aimed at connecting financial institutions and real-world assets through DeFi. In November last year, Kinto decided to launch as part of the Arbitrum Orbit ecosystem.

Kinto is an L2 Rollup based on Arbitrum Nitro technology, operating as an Optimistic Rollup parallel to Arbitrum One and Nova, providing KYC, insurance, and AML and fraud monitoring at the blockchain level. All participants undergo KYC verification, and the network continuously runs AML checks on all participants. Transactions can only be executed by verified participants.

The governance and utility token KINTO of the Kinto network allocates 60% to community members, with most distributed to users and developers building on it, 25% to Pre-Seed round, seed round investors, and advisors (with a three-year vesting period), and 15% to team members (with a three-year vesting period).

According to Kinto's documentation, the network is set for full launch in February 2024, and the Engen (trial release) has already begun.

https://kinto.xyz/

Avive World

Avive World is a DePin and UBI project on Arbitrum, as well as a token-gated community, having launched the Avive testnet on Arbitrum Orbit in collaboration with AltLayer.

Avive World incentivizes users to actively develop social relationships within the Avive ecosystem through a network proof (PON) mechanism, rewarding meaningful participation, contributions, and support within the community.

Partners listed on the Avive World official website include Arbitrum, OKX, AltLayer, Biconomy, Particle Network, and others.

https://www.avive.world/

Fiefdom

Fiefdom is an Orbit chain utilizing Arbitrum AnyTrust, specifically designed for gaming and trading in the metaverse. As a Layer3 network, Fiefdom offers low-latency, low-cost transactions. The FIEF token serves as the Gas token for the Fiefdom network.

Its Fief Protocol is a multi-chain platform that allows for trading metaverse assets and earning rewards through the FIEF token, along with decentralized fee sharing.

https://www.fief.gg/

Alpha Dune Network

Alpha Dune Network, powered by Arbitrum Nitro, is a loyalty-driven, game-centric chain. Caldera will assist Alpha Dune in launching and managing its dedicated Rollup for Web3 gaming applications (such as Houndrace and Dune Crown). Alpha Dune will also use Celestia as its primary data availability solution.

https://alphadune.com/

Polychain Monsters

Polychain Monsters is a multi-chain NFT collection and gaming ecosystem that previously announced in October last year that it would collaborate with AltLayer to introduce a full-chain monster battle system. Additionally, Polychain Monsters will launch a custom chain using Arbitrum Orbit.

Sanko GameCorp

Sanko GameCorp is an on-chain game studio planning to release a game console and arcade called "Dream Machine," built natively on Arbitrum. Sanko GameCorp plans to launch the Orbit chain through Caldera.

https://sankodreammachine.net/