The Arbitrum Foundation, the organization supporting the Ethereum Layer-2 network, is asking the DAO for roughly $43 million to fund another year of operations and ecosystem work, an ask that is larger than Arbitrum's whole 2025 gross profit.
The proposal, published on the Arbitrum governance forum on May 22, seeks $16 million in RWAs and stablecoins, 1,740 ETH and 230 million ARB to support the foundation for one more year beyond its initial allocation under AIP 1.1.
- At current prices, the request would cost DAO about $43.5 million.
The foundation argues it acts as "a growth engine and cost center" for Arbitrum, covering ecosystem expansion, strategic partnerships, technical work and DAO initiatives, while also paying costs tied to Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova.
It added that Arbitrum generated around $23.5 million in gross profit in 2025 across transaction fees, Timeboost and the Arbitrum Expansion Program, with the revenue going to the DAO treasury.
That means the new funding ask is about x2 the DAO's 2025 gross profit, using current token prices.
- The foundation expects 2027 operating expenses of $27.6 million, with $14.8 million going to security, infrastructure, tooling, hosting and support.
- Technical costs account for about 54% of the foundation's 2027 operating expenses, according to the proposal.
- The proposal also asks for 230 million ARB to support ecosystem growth, including new strategic partners and other operating needs.
More: Ethereum Foundation to become smaller as Buterin responds to senior exits
But not everyone seems to be on board with the proposal, with some calling for clearer accountability.
User under the alias MconnectDAO noted that although the proposal was detailed, there should be more concrete program-level KPIs and periodic reporting so delegates can better judge how the budget turns into value for the DAO treasury.
Another commenter, Arbit1, said the size of the ask raised questions about tokenholder alignment and direct value accrual to ARB holders.
Arbit1
The proposal says delegates are expected to discuss the request before a planned temperature-check vote, followed by a possible on-chain vote in June if the first vote passes.
This is the second main funding ask from the Arbitrum Foundation since the DAO was created in March 2023.
- In 2023, the foundation received an initial 750 million ARB allocation under the AIP-1 plan. After backlash, AIP-1.1 put the remaining 700 million ARB into a four-year lockup, with a listed $36 million first-year operating budget.