A gentle introduction: Arbitrum chains
This document is for developers and decision-makers who want to learn more about Arbitrum chains, a product offering that lets you create your own Arbitrum chains.
If you'd prefer to learn by doing, see the Orbit SDK Rollup creation example for step-by-step instructions that walk you through the process of how to use orbit-sdk to configure and launch your own Arbitrum chain.
In a nutshell:
- Arbitrum chains is the permissionless path for launching customizable dedicated chains using Arbitrum technology.
- Configure numerous components of the chain such as throughput, privacy, gas token, governance, precompiles, data availability layers and more, the possibilities are endless.
- You own your Arbitrum chain and can decentralize its ownership, validation, and other dependencies.
- Leverage Arbitrum Nitro, the tech stack powering interactive fraud proofs, advanced compression, EVM+ compatibility via Stylus, and continuous improvements.
- Arbitrum chains can be a Layer 2 (L2) chain which settles directly to Ethereum, or a Layer 3 (L3) chain which can settle to any Ethereum L2, such as Arbitrum One.
What's an Arbitrum chain?
- You can think of Arbitrum chains as deployable, configurable instances of the Arbitrum Nitro tech stack.
- You can also think of them as tailored chains - chains tailored precisely to your exact use-case and business needs.
- This gives you another way to progressively decentralize your applications and incrementally adopt the properties and security assumptions of Ethereum's base layer.
- Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova are owned and governed by the Arbitrum DAO. With Arbitrum chains, you determine the way that your chain is governed.
What problem do Arbitrum chains solve?
The Ethereum ecosystem is supported by a decentralized network of nodes that each run Ethereum's Layer 1 (L1) client software. Ethereum's block space is in high demand, so users are often stuck waiting for the network to become less congested (and thus, less expensive).
Arbitrum's protocols address this challenge by offloading some of the Ethereum network's heavy lifting to another decentralized network of nodes that support the Arbitrum stack (Arbitrum chains).
What key features should I consider?
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Dedicated throughput | Dedicated throughput |
| EVM+ compatibility | EVM compatability + more languages like Rust programs supported |
| Account abstraction | Account abstraction |
| Gas & Tokens | or Native ETH gas |
| Data availability | Rollup (ETH DA), AnyTrust, |
| Fast confirmations | Fast withdrawals |
| Security & validation | BoLD, Permissioned validators, Challenge period enforced on L1 |
| Safety Features | Force-inclusion & customizable governance |
| MEV | Timeboost |
| Cost | Data posting costs |
| Infrastructure | Hardware footprint |
| Interop | TBD |
How do Arbitrum chains help the Ethereum ecosystem?
Arbitrum helps Ethereum move towards a multi-chain future. This is valuable for the following reasons:
| Value add | Description |
|---|---|
| Scalability | Multiple chains help overcome scaling bottlenecks by dividing activity into opt-in environments with separate resource management. |
| Flexible security models | Different chains can experiment with different security models, allowing for tradeoffs. For example: Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova are both L2 chains, with Arbitrum Nova giving developers the ability to optimize for lower fees. With Arbitrum chains, extending the technology and experimenting is easier than ever. |
| Flexible execution environments | Different chains can experiment with more-or-less restrictive execution environments. For example, although Arbitrum chains are fully EVM compatible, Arbitrum chains can restrict smart contract functionality to optimize for your project's needs. |
| Flexible governance | Arbitrum chains let you define your own governance protocols. |
Are Arbitrum chains the same thing as "app chains"?
It depends on your definition of "app chain". Arbitrum chains can be used as application-specific chains (often referred to as "app chains" or "appchains"). But they aren't just for apps. They're for hosting EVM-compatible smart contracts using self-managed infrastructure that isolates compute resources away from Arbitrum's public L2 chains based on your unique needs.
- You can use your Arbitrum chain to host the smart contracts that support one app, two apps, an ecosystem of apps, or no apps at all.
- You can use your Arbitrum chain to host a private, centralized service.
- Your Arbitrum chain can be special-purpose, general-purpose, and everything in-between.
- You could even build an app that uses multiple Arbitrum chains to support strange new forms of redundancy, high availability, and trustlessness.