Arbitrum Scaling the Rails While Crowd Thins

Together, these developments signal a maturing ecosystem. The underlying usage and economic data help clarify how this shift is taking shape.

Infrastructure upgrades, throughput gains and shifting user behaviour

Arbitrum implemented ArbOS Dia on 8 Jan, adding multiple gas targets and more adaptive pricing windows to reduce volatility during congestion. Coupled with the Fusaka upgrade and subsequent blob parameter increases, rollups now operate with roughly 67% more blob capacity and materially lower data availability costs. This combination should support higher throughput and improve sequencer margins.

Transaction volume reflects this improved capacity. Weekly activity sits near 31mn transactions, up more than 150% year-on-year and almost 60% over 90 days.

Data: Tokenterminal

Active users, however, are moving differently. Weekly active wallets have fallen to about 675,000, down more than 55% over the past 90 days and over 60% year on year. This pattern suggests activity concentration, where a smaller cohort of wallets transacts more frequently. Such shifts often appear when bots, MEV strategies and incentive-based looping grow faster than broad retail participation.

Revenue adds further nuance. Weekly revenue is roughly $128,000, down more than 80% over 90 days despite the rise in transaction count. The contraction implies declining revenue per transaction as effective gas prices fall under competitive pressure. Efficiency gains from the upgrades have lowered costs and supported higher throughput, but monetization per unit of activity has tightened meaningfully.

Institutional adoption, RWA expansion and the composition of TVL

Arbitrum's institutional footprint is becoming more structured, even as retail usage cools. The network holds roughly $10.05bn in TVL, a figure that is up more than 40% year-on-year despite recent softness in other engagement metrics.

Stablecoins are the core pillar. With approximately $7.33bn in stablecoins on Arbitrum, dollar liquidity provides the base layer for market making, yield strategies and cross-chain flows. PayPal's expansion of PYUSD and the integration of USDT0 further reinforce this segment.

Tokenized funds now total about $408mn, growing more than 30% over the past six months. These products, including tokenized treasuries and institutional yield solutions such as Maple's syrupUSDC, align with the Arbitrum DAO's own allocations into tokenized US Treasuries through partners like Franklin Templeton and WisdomTree. This is one of the fastest-growing parts of the network's RWA profile.

Tokenized stocks remain more symbolic than economically material. Robinhood's launch of nearly 500 US equities and ETFs on Arbitrum for European users represents an important milestone, but capital deployed is still only $11.7mn, a scale that indicates early adoption rather than a meaningful revenue or liquidity driver.

Gold tokenization rounds out the picture. Arbitrum currently hosts roughly $101mn in tokenized commodities. The upcoming launch of Arowana's AGT token in March is notable because it brings institutional credentials, backed by Korea's third-largest gold exchange, a firm with $600mn in annual trading volume and 18 years of precious metals expertise. This addition broadens the network's RWA surface, though its near term impact will likely be incremental rather than transformative.

Together, these categories help explain why TVL remains elevated. Capital inflows into structured products and dollar liquidity have offset softer retail activity. The network is increasingly shaped by institutional balance sheets rather than mass user growth.

Conclusion

Arbitrum is progressing through a transition marked by stronger infrastructure, lower data costs and a growing institutional footprint. Transaction throughput is rising and RWA activity is diversifying, while user counts and revenue per transaction have moved in the opposite direction. The network's TVL reflects the influence of large, stable capital pools rather than broad participation.

The challenge and opportunity ahead lie in converting this deeper, more institutional capital base into durable economic throughput. Arbitrum has strengthened the rails. The next phase is proving that the economics can scale alongside them.