This Week in Web3 | 3.20.23

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Here's what we'll cover today:

• Arbitrum announces the airdrop of their governance token, $ARB

• So what good is crypto, really? A breakdown

• Product updates from our CEO & Co-Founder, Dariya

• Partner Feature: Slingshot, Brave Wallet

Sarah at Layer3

WEB3 DIGEST

Welcome to the dawn of the $ARB

On March 16, Arbitrum announced the launch of DAO governance for the Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova networks, alongside the launch of their native token ARB.

Titled "Operation Wen" and accompanied by an awfully comedic cinematic masterpiece, the airdrop plan indicates that 12.75% of $ARB's circulating supply will be distributed in the Arbitrum Airdrop starting Thursday, March 23, based upon data taken on a snapshot on February 6, 2023.

Arbitrum goes into more detail in their docs here, which covers essential elements like circulating supply and distribution percentages. I've handily summarized those for you below:

• Initial supply is 10 billion $ARB, with max inflation of 2% per year

• Eligibility begins at Block 58642080 (Feb 6, 2023) on Arbitrum One

• Claiming starts at Block 16890400 (March 23, 2023) on Ethereum Mainnet

• Claiming ends at Block 18208000 (Sep 23, 2023) on Ethereum Mainnet

• 42.78% or 4.278 billion will be allocated to the Arbitrum DAO treasury

• 26.94% or 2.694 billion will be allocated to the Offchain Labs Team and Future Team/Advisors

• 11.62% or 1.162 billion will be allocated to Arbitrum users (aka this airdrop)

• 1.13% or 113 million will be allocated to DAOs building apps on Arbitrum

For some cool data on all the DAOs that had activity on Arbitrum, check out this official chart by Nansen below.

There were multiple criteria for you to be eligible for the airdrop. Allocation was based on a points system where certain points could be earned for actions such as bridging funds onto Arbitrum, transacting on Arbitrum, and becoming a liquidity provider.

And if you're curious about those specific requirements and what you'd be eligible for, we actually have a Quest for that! ;)

INFORMATION DIET

Sarah's Recommended Reads

Welcome to Sarah's Recommended Reads! Here, I'll be summarizing well-written articles or threads by web3 thinkers and builders that you should know about. 

This week, we're digging into some crypto use cases. Damn, you must be thinking, Now that's something that everyone in this industry has already debated and yet no one has actually figured out, aside from useless monkey JPEGz. Sooo, why are we here?

For one, I think that people aren't always serious when they talk about "use cases" for crypto. Techno-optimism is very good at shifting the goalposts and talking about the things that technologies like crypto could be used for, but not what people actually use them for. So let's start there.

Second, I did find some gems in this thread by Jesse Pollak from Coinbase, which will be the focus of this section today.

And the gems are mostly found in the comments, where several have pointed out the following:

...And they're right! Crypto's biggest use case is outside of western countries, where it is a nightmare and a half for many people to have a stable store of value and means of transaction. The evidence that decentralized stablecoins provide this function is stronger than ever, and already gives us a wide range of use cases—be it access to western financial instruments to build wealth, or as a way to provide humanitarian aid without depending on institutions. Capital controls and inflation stifle people's abilities to provide the basic necessities for themselves and their families. Even as someone who grew up between two countries and has access to USD, the pain of switching between banks and currencies is abundantly clear to me.

Another interesting case I stumbled upon in the replies: Blockchain-based climate insurance, helping farmers in Kenya protect their crops against natural disaster.

To date, the Lemonade Foundation has insured over 6,000 farmers in Kenya against crop destruction, all without complicated onramping and Dapps. It's all done through a SMS text message, while crypto powers it all and does its own thing in the background.

So when we think about crypto use cases, it's probably correct to think that DeFi casinos and luxury brands cashing in on NFT projects aren't exactly the use cases we're hoping for. But maybe we're just thinking of the wrong use cases, and not meeting people where they already are.

Quick Hits

• Binance Will Convert $1B Worth of BUSD Stablecoin to Bitcoin, Ether, BNB – link

• Meta announces plans to stop working on NFTs – link

• Coinbase Is Adding DeFi Apps Uniswap and Aave to Its Base Blockchain – link

• FTX influencers face $1B class-action lawsuit over alleged crypto fraud promotion – link

Product Updates from Dariya

Hey everyone!

We've been working hard to make the platform more welcoming and user friendly for crypto enthusiasts, and we're thrilled to unveil our new and improved design system later this week. A big shoutout to Greg for bringing it to life.

Our team has made some significant changes to the colors, typography, and overall look and feel of the platform. We believe these updates will make it easier for users to navigate and engage with Layer3, whether you're a seasoned crypto veteran or just starting out.

We have a ton of amazing announcements coming up in the next few weeks, so be sure to stay tuned for more updates and partnership announcements. And remember, we love meeting our users. Shoot me a DM @dariyaxyz!

— Dariya, Co-Founder and CEO

PARTNER FEATURE

Featured Partner: Slingshot

This week, we’re teaming up with Slingshot Finance to bring you a brand new DeFi wallet, for a mobile experience like no other.

Participate in our #5DaysOfSlingshot campaign for special prizes, including an NFT of your choice under 0.2ETH! If you participate in our Quest with Slingshot at the end of the week, you’ll get a cool Discord role in Slingshot’s server.

Featured Partner: Brave

We’ve partnered with Brave to make your web3 experience more private, fast, and secure! Experience what Brave Wallet has to offer in our latest Quest, and start leveling up your web3 security practices today:

As always, thank you for reading!

Join our Telegram, Discord, and Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest Quests, communities, and more. Until next week, frens.

Cheers,

Sarah from Layer3