Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles
Dear Bankless Nation,
Arbitrum is a layer two (L2) that’s designed to make Ethereum transactions very fast and very inexpensive.
And while Arbitrum may still have a ways to go before it’s fully evolved, the scaling solution already boasts ~$2B in total value locked (TVL) and has become an early leader of the L2 dapp scene.
In a bid to kick off the L2’s next phase of growth, Arbitrum’s creators launched The Arbitrum Odyssey today, June 21st. The 8-week program will see people performing on-chain quests as a way to tour some of the top dapps currently on Arbitrum.
Those who complete all the quests can collect up to 17 NFTs created by tubby cats artists Ratwell and Sugoi. So participating in the event allows us to simultaneously:
-
Support a promising scaling solution
-
Build up our personal L2 skill trees
-
Collect iconic NFTs
-
… and maybe qualify for an Arbitrum token airdrop??
On that last point, it’s pure speculation for now that The Odyssey campaign will somehow factor into a later Arbitrum airdrop. But if you’re interested in covering all the bases just in case, let’s walk through the campaign’s big ideas and its schedule so you can track along accordingly.
-WMP
🙏 Sponsor: Brave Wallet – the secure crypto wallet. No extension required.✨
L2 adventuring via The Arbitrum Odyssey
📣 The Arbitrum Odyssey will officially start on Tuesday June 21st, 2022 at 1pm EST.
We know you arbinauts have been very excited to venture into the unknown with us, and we’re very eager to have you aboard! 🚀
But before we continue, our space engineers have a small update:
First up, Bridge Week
The Odyssey’s first week, which runs from June 21st through June 27th at 11:59PM EST, is Bridge Week. As its name suggests, this phase of the campaign will center on projects that are used for bridging funds to Arbitrum.
Starting June 21st at 1pm EST, by using any of the bridges/cexs listed below to move ETH into Arbitrum, you’ll be able to claim the first NFT after the week ends.
Users who end up using the bridge that had the most wallets bridging into Arbitrum are in store for a bonus NFT. 👀
The 19 projects participating in the first leg of the program are as follows:
Qualifying for the first NFTs
If you use any of the projects listed above to move ETH to Arbitrum during Bridge Week, you’ll be able to collect The Odyssey’s first NFT reward after the week is over.
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/arbitrum/status/1539292131747143680","full_text":"After the end of the week you’ll be able to claim your @ratwell0x and @sugoiNFT designed NFT on @ProjectGalaxyHQ’s website here. 👇 ngalaxy.eco/arbitrum/","username":"arbitrum","name":"Arbitrum","date":"Tue Jun 21 17:00:17 +0000 2022","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":20,"like_count":153,"expanded_url":{"url":"https://galaxy.eco/arbitrum/","image":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0d614e1c-e26a-4a41-9799-109eff737bdf_400x400","title":"Arbitrum | Project Galaxy","description":"Explore Arbitrum community space on Project Galaxy. Collect NFTs, bounties and on-chain credentials from Arbitrum on Project Galaxy","domain":"galaxy.eco"},"video_url":null}”>
After the end of the week you’ll be able to claim your @ratwell0x and @sugoiNFT designed NFT on @ProjectGalaxyHQ’s website here. 👇
galaxy.eco/arbitrum/
However, a second NFT reward will also be claimable by anyone who uses the bridge that ends up facilitating the most bridging activity during Bridge Week. For example, if Connext facilitates the most ETH-to-Arbitrum volume between June 21st and June 28th, Odyssey bridgers who used Connext during that period will be able to collect the campaign’s second NFT reward.
There’s no minimum ETH amount to qualify for either of these initial NFTs, so even just moving a very small amount of ETH to Arbitrum through the bridge you predict will facilitate the most activity may be enough to earn you both NFTs — if your prediction pans out after Bridge Week’s conclusion, of course!
For what it’s worth, Hop Exchange is in the lead right now according to this Dune Analytics dashboard by Spring Zhang, and I personally wouldn’t be surprised if that lead lasts for the rest of the week. We’ll just have to wait and see, though.
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/OlimpioCrypto/status/1539189737906245632","full_text":"5/6nn"Olimpio, what bridge should I use", you say?nnHere is a Dashboard to track bridge usage (live): dune.com/springzhang/ar…nnVolume and strategies are being discussed in @Earndrop_io‘s discord server: discord.gg/earndrop ","username":"OlimpioCrypto","name":"olimpio ⚡️","date":"Tue Jun 21 10:13:24 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FVv71yMXsAAZ9bB.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/cCkUU2u5Kt","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":23,"like_count":153,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null}”>
5/6
“Olimpio, what bridge should I use”, you say?
Here is a Dashboard to track bridge usage (live): dune.com/springzhang/ar…
Volume and strategies are being discussed in @Earndrop_io‘s discord server: discord.gg/earndrop
Double reward possibilities?
We’ve seen bridges like Hop and Synapse already launch native tokens, so we can look at other bridging protocols that don’t have tokens yet as potential candidates for later retroactive token airdrops.
Interestingly, a handful of projects that are participating in The Odyssey’s Bridge Week — for example Bungee, deBridge, and LI.FI — haven’t announced tokens yet. This tees up the possibility that trying these projects out during The Odyssey may help qualify you for their airdrops later, too, if they do end up opting to distribute tokens based on past activity.
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/OlimpioCrypto/status/1539189730562166784","full_text":"• @lifiprotocol | transferto.xyz/swap (token: no ⭐️)n• @BungeeExchange | bungee.exchange (token: no ⭐️)n• @deBridgeFinance | app.debridge.finance (token: no ⭐️)n• @ComposableFin | mosaic.composable.finance (token: no ⭐️)","username":"OlimpioCrypto","name":"olimpio ⚡️","date":"Tue Jun 21 10:13:23 +0000 2022","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":34,"like_count":178,"expanded_url":{"url":"http://mosaic.composable.finance","image":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d0b5a7a8-52fd-4caf-a3b7-9816c7d0a34f_1x1.gif","title":"Mosaic | Composable Finance","description":"A cross-Ethereum union transferral system","domain":"mosaic.composable.finance"},"video_url":null}”>
• @lifiprotocol | transferto.xyz/swap (token: no ⭐️)
• @BungeeExchange | bungee.exchange (token: no ⭐️)
• @deBridgeFinance | app.debridge.finance (token: no ⭐️)
• @ComposableFin | mosaic.composable.finance (token: no ⭐️)
Week 2 through Week 8
After bridge week is over, you’ll be able to complete 2 separate tasks from 2 projects each week!
More details on each week will come as the Odyssey progresses.
After Bridge week concludes on June 28th, we’ll see The Odyssey shift to focusing on two tasks from two projects per week.
Hashflow was originally slated to be featured in Week 2, but the project’s team later decided to participate in Bridge Week. This move paved the way for decentralized perpetuals exchange GMX to join the campaign, so The Odyssey’s updated schedule is as follows:
-
Week 1: Bridge Week (June 21st->June 28th)
-
Week 2: Yield Protocol and GMX (June 28th->July 5th)
-
Week 3: Aboard Exchange and TofuNFT (July 5th->July 12th)
-
Week 5: 1inch and Izumi/Yin Finance (July 19th->July 26th)
-
Week 7: TreasureDAO and Battlefly (August 2nd->August 9th)
-
Week 8: Ideamarket and Sushi (August 9th->August 16th)
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/arbitrum/status/1539292136432082946","full_text":"After bridging, check out our ecosystem portal containing hundreds of different projects you can use on Arbitrum today! 🔵nnportal.arbitrum.onennYou’ll have plenty of time to get accustomed to your new home here before the next week begins, containing the next tasks. 📖","username":"arbitrum","name":"Arbitrum","date":"Tue Jun 21 17:00:18 +0000 2022","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":6,"like_count":93,"expanded_url":{"url":"https://portal.arbitrum.one/","image":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d1515978-54b5-4289-ad20-043ffe9a3d54_952x261.svg","title":"Arbitrum One Portal | Your gateway into the Arbitrum ecosystem.","description":null,"domain":"portal.arbitrum.one"},"video_url":null}”>
After bridging, check out our ecosystem portal containing hundreds of different projects you can use on Arbitrum today! 🔵
You’ll have plenty of time to get accustomed to your new home here before the next week begins, containing the next tasks. 📖
We don’t know what the tasks will be for these upcoming weeks yet, as the Arbitrum team is going to release that info on an ongoing basis. To stay on top of The Odyssey as it progresses, consider turning on post notifications for the Arbitrum Twitter account or follow along in the Arbitrum Discord.
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/arbitrum/status/1539292137665208323","full_text":"Remember that if you have any questions throughout your time in the Odyssey, visit our Discord and check out all the FAQs in the odyssey-faq channel! 👾nndiscord.gg/Arbitrum","username":"arbitrum","name":"Arbitrum","date":"Tue Jun 21 17:00:18 +0000 2022","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":8,"like_count":109,"expanded_url":{"url":"http://discord.gg/Arbitrum","image":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3f457aca-682d-479e-b533-4e694ba76673_512x288.jpeg","title":"Join the Arbitrum Discord Server!","description":"Join the largest Layer 2 community to date! Talk about your favorite Arbitrum-based projects with your fellow arbiters. | 90,085 members","domain":"discord.gg"},"video_url":null}”>
Remember that if you have any questions throughout your time in the Odyssey, visit our Discord and check out all the FAQs in the odyssey-faq channel! 👾
Zooming out
The Odyssey is set to usher in a new wave of users to Arbitrum and grow the L2’s community that much further.
The Odyssey is intended to be a fun way to learn more about the Arbitrum ecosystem and get an awesome NFT to show for it! 🎊
Welcome aboard, arbinauts! 🫡
The L2 itself is still in beta, meaning the tech’s training wheels still haven’t come off yet, so to speak. However, the arrival of The Odyssey shows that Arbitrum’s builders are confident in their scaling solution’s current abilities and are ready to progress the L2 to its next chapter.
For now, we can only speculate on what that next chapter will look like exactly. If it does involve the launch of a native token, participating in The Odyssey and its quests seems like a no-brainer way to get in line for that while also supporting a promising L2 and collecting cool NFTs.
Action steps
-
🌉 Consider bridging some ETH to Arbitrum for Bridge Week
-
📌 Follow Arbitrum announcements
Author Bio
William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversal—a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. He’s also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond!
Subscribe to Bankless. $22 per mo. Includes archive access, Inner Circle & Badge.
🙏Thanks to our sponsor
BRAVE WALLET
Brave Wallet: the secure crypto wallet, built directly into the browser.
Buy, store, send & swap assets. Manage NFTs. Connect other wallets & DApps. All from the security of the best privacy browser on the market.
Ditch those risky extensions. It’s time to switch to Brave Wallet.
Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.