Token Description & Project Background

Arbitrum is a Layer-2 blockchain designed to scale Ethereum, developed by Offchain Labs.

Arbitrum is one of many blockchains to offer a ‘rollup solution’ - this refers to when transactions are batched off-chain to reduce congestion on the mainnet. Once settled, these multiple transactions are compressed into a single transaction on the underlying blockchain (in Arbitrum’s case, Ethereum). Batching transactions off-chain makes for faster, scalable, and much cheaper transactions.

Arbitrum has frequently stated that their ‘guiding mission when building Arbitrum has always been to securely scale Ethereum’. This ‘security-first’ mindset is stressed in their marketing materials. 

Arbitrum was founded by Ed Felten, formerly President Obama’s deputy Chief Technology Officer, Steven Goldfeder (CEO) and Harry Kalodner (CTO). The three co-founders met at Princeton University.

ARB is the network’s governance token. 

2.5% of the ARB token supply was airdropped to the Arbitrum community on Mar 23, 2023.

Risks of ARB

Like an investment in other crypto assets, there are some general risks to investing in ARB. These include:  (i) volatility risk and liquidity risk, (ii) short history risk, (iii) demand risk, (iv) forking risk, (v) code defects, (vi) regulatory risk, (vii) electronic trading risk, and (viii) cyber security risk. For additional information of these and other general risks associated with crypto assets and Uphold’s platform, please refer to the Risks Specific to Holding Digital Assets statement.

We emphasize that this Crypto Asset Statement is not an exhaustive description or summary of all risks associated with ARB. Investors should conduct their own research and perform their own assessment before trading any crypto asset to determine the appropriate level of risk for their personal circumstances.

The ARB community and Arbitrum founding team, core developers, and Offchain Labs are not under any legal or regulatory obligation to disclose material information to the public regarding its activities. Holders of ARB have no recourse to the Arbitrum team, developers, or Uphold if ARB declines in value for any reason.

Changes to applicable law may adversely affect the use, transfer, exchange, or value of any of your crypto assets, and such changes may be sudden and without notice.

Uphold’s Evaluation Process

Prior to listing ARB on the Uphold Platform, Uphold performed due diligence on ARB and determined that ARB is unlikely to be a security or derivative under relevant securities legislation. Uphold’s analysis including reviewing publicly available information on the following: 

• The creation, governance, usage, and design of ARB, including ensuring the source code being open-source, audited and peer reviewed, security, and roadmap for growth in the developer community. 
• The supply, demand, maturity, utility, and liquidity of ARB-.
• Marketing materials put forward by the ARB social team including, Twitter, Medium blog, LinkedIn posts, Discord and Telegram channels.
• Material technical risks associated with ARB, including any code defects, security breaches and other threats concerning ARB and its supporting blockchain (such as the susceptibility to hacking and impact of forking), or the practices and protocols that apply to them.
• Legal and regulatory risks associated with ARB, including any pending, potential, or prior civil, regulatory, criminal, or enforcement action relating to the issuance, distribution, or use of ARB. 

General

Uphold has prepared this Crypto Asset Statement based on publicly available information. Although Uphold has taken steps to obtain information from apparently reliable sources, information contained in this Crypto Asset Statement may be inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date. This overview is a starting point for you to perform your own research prior to investing in a crypto asset.

Uphold users should read the Risks Specific To Holding Digital Assets statement for additional discussion of general risks associated with crypto assets made available through the Uphold platform.  

Canadian residents, please note that Uphold has filed an application for registration in certain Canadian jurisdictions but has not yet obtained registration. Until such time as Uphold obtains registration, Uphold has agreed to abide by the terms of an undertaking available at the following link. Please also review the Uphold Canada – Crypto Risk Statement for additional discussion of general risks associated with the crypto assets made available through Uphold Platform. Please be aware that statutory rights of action for damages or rescission in section 130.1 of the Securities Act (Ontario) and, if applicable, similar statutory rights under securities legislation in the other provinces and territories of Canada do not apply in respect of this Crypto Asset Statement or other disclosures on the Uphold website and Risks Specific To Holding Digital Assets statement. 

Last updated on June 2, 2023.