Arbitrum, the largest Ethereum layer‑2 network, has launched a new incentive program aimed at channeling liquidity into decentralized finance (DeFi).
Details of the DRIP Program
Announced on September 3 in an Arbitrum Foundation post, the DeFi Renaissance Incentive Program (DRIP) will distribute up to $40 million in ARB rewards to users performing targeted on‑chain actions.
Introducing DRIP - The DeFi Renaissance Incentive Program!
— Arbitrum (@arbitrum) September 3, 2025
A huge DeFi program that rewards real DeFi actions on Arbitrum, starting with Season 1: Leverage Looping Strategy
💧 Deposit ETH/stables
💧 Borrow & loop
💧 Repeat
Join the Renaissance now 👇https://t.co/dIQYRL2B3g pic.twitter.com/IvjoD9IXOE
The program was designed by Entropy, powered by Merkl, and will be managed by Entropy Advisors under the oversight of ArbitrumDAO. In total, around 80 million ARB tokens have been allocated for incentives across four “seasons,” with each emphasizing a different segment of the DeFi ecosystem.
First Season Priorities
The first season runs from September 3, 2025, through January 20, 2026, and focuses on looping leverage in lending markets. During this stage, participants can earn up to 24 million ARB by borrowing against yield‑bearing ETH and stablecoin assets across approved protocols.
Arbitrum specified that incentives will follow a performance‑based, protocol‑agnostic approach, rewarding borrowing demand across multiple markets rather than concentrating liquidity in a single venue. Projects in the first round include Aave, Morpho, Fluid, Euler, Dolomite, and Silo, with supported collateral such as wstETH, eUSDC, and USDe.
Ethereum Layer‑2 Market Context
The launch reflects growing competition among Ethereum scaling solutions. Data from analytics platform Growthepie shows that nearly 13% of Ethereum’s application revenue now originates on layer‑2 networks.
In this landscape, Arbitrum maintains a leading position. According to L2beat, it currently secures more than $19.1 billion in total value, surpassing Coinbase’s Base at $14.7 billion and OP Mainnet at $3.58 billion.
These figures demonstrate how Ethereum’s layer‑2 ecosystem is maturing rapidly, with networks competing for developer engagement, liquidity, and users.
Ethereum Interoperability Efforts
The rollout also coincides with broader ecosystem efforts to reduce fragmentation. On August 29, the Ethereum Foundation announced the Ethereum Interoperability Layer (EIL), a trustless framework designed to support transactions across different layer‑2s.
The Foundation described EIL as a way to give users the experience of “one Ethereum” while upholding key principles such as censorship resistance, privacy, and open‑source scalability.
Matvii Diadkov
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