Arbitrum Odyssey - An 8 week journey

Arbitrum, the layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum developed by Offchain Labs, will be hosting a 2 month long event for users to experience different on-chain projects which can range from bridging to DeFi to NFTs and gaming. The Odyssey will be a great opportunity to get a chance at the (unverified) $ARBI airdrop and will be a good starter for people new to DeFi to get introduced to it. Let’s have a look at what Arbitrum has in store for us, but first, some words on layer 2s.

What is a layer 2?

Ethereum itself does not have the capability to process heavy transaction loads in case of mainstream adoption. If millions of people want to use the Ethereum blockchain, we will need other options that offer the same level of security as Ethereum itself, but still are able to process the amount of transactions that mainstream use will bring to it. 

This is where layer 2 scaling solutions come in. Arbitrum has been the leading layer 2 since September last year with the highest amount of TVL to this day. It offers fast and cheap transactions all while offering the same level of security as Ethereum, because it is built on top of Ethereum. 

If you’d like to learn more about Ethereum’s scaling problem and layer 2’s, have a look at our blog post.

We’re going on a trip

During the Odyssey, each week will have a different theme and a different set of tasks for you to complete. Participating in the event will reward you with NFTs, 1 for each task that you complete up to a total of 17 NFT’s. There are 2 bonus NFTs to be earned. One of them can be earned after Bridge Week, where you will receive it if you bridged through the most used bridge. The second bonus NFT designed by @ratwell0x and @sugoiNFT can be earned if you collect 13 out of 16 NFTs. After the first week there will be 2 tasks published each week. 

See the following schedule for each weekly topic:

Week 1: Bridge Week

Week 2: Yield Protocol and Hashflow

Week 3: Aboard Exchange and TofuNFT

Week 4: Uniswap and Apex

Week 5: 1inch and Izumi/Yin Finance

Week 6: Dodo and Swapr

Week 7: TreasureDAO and Battlefly

Week 8: Ideamarket and Sushi

Why would you?

The goal of Arbitrum Odyssey is to attract users and TVL to the platform, while simultaneously getting new users of DeFi to familiarize themselves with the user experience of decentralized apps. Offchain Labs’ approach to achieve those goals are unique and exciting compared to various other methods that have been tried in the past, ie. funded incentive programs a la Avalanche or Polygon.

Note: Even though there has not been an official statement from Offchain Labs regarding any potential $ARBI token, it would be safe to assume that participating in the event by earning (most of) the NFTs will make you eligible for any future airdrop. 

Bridge Week

Arbitrum Odyssey launches on June 21st at 1pm EST during which it will kick off the first week called Bridge Week. This week will be focused on onboarding liquidity in order to prepare for the upcoming weeks. To earn the standard bridge NFT you will have to bridge ETH to Arbitrum through any of the participating 3rd party bridges. The NFTs will be claimable on this website.

There is a bonus NFT available for those who bridged through the most used bridge. According to this lovely Dune dashboard provided by @springzhang, Hop Protocol has the largest amount of bridging transactions to Arbitrum. This data is in line with a poll that was put up in the official Arbitrum Discord asking the community what bridge they will be using. Hop Protocol came out as a winner with Hashflow (not included on the Dune dashboard) as the runner up. 

How do I get the bridge NFTs?

All you need to be able to participate in the task is a wallet that supports Arbitrum and NFTs (we think Metamask is the best wallet atm), and some ETH on any network that supports any of the participating bridges. 

The best way to secure the standard bridge NFT would be to simply use any bridge you prefer to bridge ETH over to Arbitrum. It is important to note that ETH is the only qualified asset, so you will have to specifically bridge ETH over to Arbitrum to receive the NFT.

If you also want the bonus bridge NFT, it would be a good idea to wait at least a few days and see what bridge is favored by the community, and then use the 1-3 top bridges in order to maximize your chances.

Of course, in case you don’t mind spending some extra on gas fees, you could also just go ahead and use every single participating bridge, so you will be guaranteed to receive both bridge NFTs.

Going forward

We believe Arbitrum Odyssey is a great introduction for people new to crypto and/or DeFi to get a chance to familiarize themselves. Each task will introduce you to a different application and will earn you a NFT in the process. Eight Global believes in a future full of crypto applications, and we are excited to guide our members through the different use cases for DeFi.

We will be releasing step by step tutorials on our official Twitter for each task, so stay tuned for the bridge tutorial later this week! Have a good one.

Sources:

https://medium.com/offchainlabs/the-arbitrum-odyssey-87d6e11171d5

https://twitter.com/arbitrum/status/1537942327485837312

https://twitter.com/Liquality_io/status/1538940924935421957

https://twitter.com/OlimpioCrypto/status/1519852532440473601

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