Arbitrum, a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, recently launched its native token, $ARB. To distribute the tokens, Arbitrum conducted an airdrop strategy, which aimed to reward early adopters and incentivize users to participate in the platform's governance. As a result, eligible Arbitrum users received $ARB tokens based on their usage of the platform.

In this analytics dashboard, we will focus on analyzing the impact of the Arbitrum airdrop on user behavior and bridge usage on the Axelar network. Axelar is a decentralized network of bridges that enables interoperability between different blockchain networks, including Arbitrum. Squid and Satellite are two of the most popular bridges on the Axelar network that allow users to transfer tokens between Ethereum and Arbitrum.

Our analysis will specifically look at whether wallets claiming the Arbitrum airdrop have increased their transfers into Arbitrum since the announcement of the airdrop. We will also investigate whether wallets that have sold their $ARB tokens are moving their tokens out of the Arbitrum network. Furthermore, we will examine the bridge usage patterns of users who bridged out of Arbitrum, focusing on the most popular bridges used for this purpose.

By providing insights into user behavior after the Arbitrum airdrop, our analysis will help shed light on the effectiveness of the airdrop as a distribution strategy and provide valuable information for the Arbitrum community and developers.

Image Credit : CoinBrain

This dashboard is divided into three main sections, in addition to the introduction and conclusion, based on the three main questions posed in the explanation.

The first section, Volume Analysis, aims to answer the question: Have wallets increased transfers into Arbitrum since the announcement of the airdrop? We will examine the volume of the Squid and Satellite bridges before and after the airdrop, as well as during the first week of the airdrop. By identifying the addresses of the airdrop recipients on the Arbitrum blockchain, we will determine the extent to which the volume of cryptocurrency entry/exit through these bridges has been affected by the airdrop.

The second section, $ARB Swaps and Bridge Activities, aims to answer the question: For wallets that have sold $ARB, are they moving their tokens out of Arbitrum? We will obtain the addresses of airdrop recipients who have converted their tokens to other cryptocurrencies and examine their impact on the number and volume of tokens entering and leaving the Squid and Satellite bridges. We will also determine the most popular bridge among Arbitrum users in the Axelar network.

The third section, Bridge Out Destinations, aims to complete the answer to the question: What bridges are users primarily using when bridging out of Arbitrum? We will calculate the output volume from each bridge based on the destination blockchain and display the input and output volumes as a histogram. This section only examines those who have sold their $ARB tokens for simplicity.

To access each section, you can click on its title in the upper part of the dashboard or in the parameter setting sub-section.

In this dashboard, data from the Axelar dataset on the FlipsideCrypto website has been used to analyze bridging activities related to Satellite and Squid bridges. Specifically, two tables - axelar.core.ez_satellite and axelar.core.ez_squid - were used to obtain information on the volume of users' activity in terms of bridge volume, the number of bridge transactions, and the number of bridgers for three intervals: before the Arbitrum airdrop, the first week after the start of the airdrop (from March 23 onwards), and after the airdrop.

Statistical information such as average, median, and maximum were obtained for these three separate periods for each of the two Squid and Satellite Axelar popular bridges, and the desired analysis was applied to the results. To find the price of each bridged token in terms of dollars, the ethereum dataset price table was used, with the names of the tokens in the bridge tables changed to maintain compatibility. For example, wherever "axlUSDC" appeared in the bridge tables, it was converted to "USDC" or "WETH" to "ETH".

For the second part of the analysis, a prepared code available at the address https://flipsidecrypto.xyz/crypto_edgar/q/2023-03-23-11-36-am-t5lxD3 was used to obtain a list of people receiving the airdrop, which was then used to filter senders or receivers in the Squid/Satellite tables.

To find Swap or ARB trading activities in Arbitrum, the arbitrum.core.fact_token_transfers table was used with some simplifying assumptions. All token transfers whose transaction type was not a simple transfer and whose origin was one of the recipients of the airdrop and transferred token, ARB, were considered as potential swap or ARB buying and selling activities. However, the results obtained may not be very accurate, although they will be very close to reality

Important Note:

There are numerous solutions available in the cryptocurrency market for bridging to Arbitrum such as Hop/LayerZero/Connext/Synapse. However, to remain focused and gain insight into the activity of $ARB Airdrop recipients who have transferred tokens to/from Arbitrum using specific bridges, we will limit our analysis to the Axelar network and its two popular bridges, namely Satellite and Squid. This approach will enable us to draw a more comprehensive and accurate conclusion.