Community members have criticized the mandatory Protocol Guild donations associated with claiming ZRO tokens.<\/p>\n
LayerZero’s highly anticipated ZRO airdrop has driven fee revenue on Arbitrum, the top Ethereum Layer 2 network by total value locked (TVL), to all-time highs.<\/p>\n
On June 20, daily revenue on Arbitrum soared to $3.1 million, marking a daily increase of 21,000% from $14,000, according to Dune Analytics. The spike came one day after ZRO airdrop claims<\/a> went live, with Arbitrum functioning as the main coordination chain for the drop.<\/p>\n The milestone beat out Arbitrum\u2019s previous record daily revenue by 68%, with the network collecting $2.13 million in fees on Dec. 15, 2023, amid a surge in inscriptions activity<\/a> on the chain.<\/p>\n The ZRO airdrop also drove an increase in overall activity on Arbitrum. The network hosted 40.3 transactions per second (TPS) on Friday, a 30%<\/a> increase in two days, according to L2beat. Arbitrum posted an all-time of 50 TPS in December 2023.<\/p>\n “One of the biggest winners from the LayerZero airdrop is Arbitrum,” said<\/a> Austin Marrazza, a product manager at Offchain Labs. “DAO raked in $3 million in congestion fees from claiming traffic today.”<\/p>\n LayerZero is a popular cross-chain interoperability protocol. According to Messari<\/a>, LayerZero facilitated more than $6.7 billion worth of cross-chain asset transfers and 29.6 million messages in the first quarter of 2024.<\/p>\n The throughput of the Ethereum ecosystem also hit an all-time high of 285 TPS on Friday.<\/p>\n Alongside the jump in Arbitrum activity, the record was also fueled by a recent spike in activity<\/a> on Xai, a gaming-focused Layer 3 network co-developed by Offchain Labs, the team behind Arbitrum.<\/p>\n Xai averaged 103.8 TPS over 24 hours, marking a nearly 6,000% increase in 10 days.<\/p>\n On Thursday at 7 a.m. ET, the LayerZero Foundation launched<\/a> claims for its newly minted ZRO token, which will remain open until September 20. Nearly 1.3 million wallets are eligible for the airdrop.<\/p>\n Airdrop claimants must make a $0.10 donation per ZRO token to the Protocol Guild, a non-profit that funds Ethereum core developers, in order to receive their tokens.<\/p>\n The \u201cProof-of-Donation\u201d mechanism is tipped to generate up to $18.5 million for the Protocol Guild, with the LayerZero Foundation pledging to match donations up to $10 million over a four-year vesting period.<\/p>\n However, LayerZero has garnered pushback for its Proof of Donation system.<\/p>\n “Mandatory donations sound more like a glorified ICO,\u201d said<\/a> Banteg, a contributor to Yearn Finance. \u201cStop bulk funding Protocol Guild; it’s been successful enough.”<\/p>\n \u201cIs it really alignment if it’s forced?\u201d added<\/a> Louis Cooper, co-founder at StrVcture Capital. \u201d If I’m at McDonald’s and they force me to donate to get my cheeseburger, do I really care about the kids or am I just hungry?\u201d<\/p>\n But not everyone is unhappy. Adam Cochrane of Synthetix tweeted in support of the donation mechanism, arguing it aligns with supporting Ethereum\u2019s core developers and long-term goals.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople whining about the donation on LayerZero airdrop are dumb,\u201d Cochrane posted<\/a> on X. \u201cYou are getting something free, and being asked to donate a fraction of it to support a greater ecosystem\u2026 The money is literally going to support free tooling that helps all projects. Stop thinking you deserve free money for just existing.\u201d<\/p>\n “There is no forced donation; if you don’t want to donate, simply don’t claim,” added<\/a> Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero Foundation. “This is not something you own; it’s something being offered.”<\/p>\nEthereum ecosystem activity tags new high<\/h2>\n
ZRO airdrop controversy<\/h2>\n