The Arbitrum DAO is currently deliberating a proposal that would allocate 21.4 million ARB tokens (equivalent to $24 million) to projects that fell short of the 50 million ARB total funding cutoff during the initial round of grants for its Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP) last month.

If approved, the proposal would progress to a formal Arbitrum Improvement Proposal, followed by an on-chain vote. The primary objective is to stimulate development and promote the adoption of applications from the selected projects on the Ethereum Layer 2 network.

The 21.4 million ARB tokens would fund an additional 26 projects, supplementing the 29 projects initially approved in the first round. Referred to as a one-time "backfund," the proposal seeks to expand the total STIP budget to 71.4 million ARB.

Projects such as DeFi bridge Wormhole (1.8 million ARB/$2 million), cross-chain platform Synapse (2 million ARB/$2.2 million), and decentralised trading platform Gains Network (4.5 million ARB/$5 million) are among those poised to benefit if the proposal is successful.

In the previous grant application round, 29 projects received a total of 49.6 million ARB, approximately $40 million at that time. GMX, a trading protocol, received the largest grant at 12 million ARB ($15 million). Notably, Lido Finance, a leading liquid staking protocol, was absent from the approved projects list, sparking speculation about concerns regarding its role in centralising the Ethereum staking ecosystem.

Inclusion Working Group Outlines Goals

The proposal originates from the Arbitrum STIP Inclusion Working Group, which conducted community calls and workshops involving multiple stakeholders. The working group outlined the initiative's goals, which include supporting diverse emerging builders, doubling the sample size and diversity of stages and categories, upholding constitutional values of inclusion vs exclusion, and avoiding harm to small, high-potential builders.

Voting, which began on Tuesday, is set to conclude on November 14. Currently, 90.49% of voters support the proposal, 8.23% oppose it, and 1.28% have abstained.

The Working Group, with the original grant budget set at 50 million ARB, recommends increasing it to 75 million ARB in alignment with the proposal's guidelines. If the initiative receives approval, it will follow the timeline and process of STIP 1, approving an additional 21.4 million ARB in funding until January 31, 2024.