Arbitrum is changing how crypto infrastructure gets paid for. Its new community-source licensing model means chains using the Arbitrum Orbit and Nitro stack are contractually required to share 10% of their net revenue with the Arbitrum ecosystem, blocking uncompensated forking and turning adoption into recurring fees.
Under this arrangement, 8% of each qualifying chain’s revenue flows to the ArbitrumDAO treasury, and 2% goes to a developer guild. So when a chain like Robinhood Chain launches on Arbitrum’s stack, it is not just using the technology, it is paying back into the ecosystem.
Robinhood Chain is the live example here, having posted about 17,171 Ethereum in revenue over its first 70 days, or roughly $42.58 million. Under Arbitrum’s terms, 10% of that net revenue goes back to the ecosystem.