Arbitrum Leads 2025 Inflows, But ARB Hesitates: What’s Next for 2026?

In the cryptocurrency landscape, the focus is on revenue, user activity, and fees—areas where Arbitrum excels. Despite significant capital inflows throughout 2025 into Ethereum's Layer 2 solution, ARB tokens haven’t matched this growth in price. This article explores the reasons behind the discrepancy and what it might mean for the future.

Key Takeaways

Capital Concentration: Arbitrum saw the largest net inflows among major blockchains in 2025, highlighting investors' preference for scalable networks.
Strong Fundamentals: On-chain growth indicators show that Arbitrum's total value secured is around $20 billion, alongside notable trading volume for tokenized stocks.
Organic Activity: Transaction activity on Arbitrum remained high without reliance on incentive-driven strategies, demonstrating real-world application use.
Price Analysis: As of December 28th, ARB is stuck in a falling wedge pattern around $0.19, with momentum indicators suggesting a potential upcoming price shift.

Arbitrum leads 2025 inflows, but ARB hesitates – What comes next in 2026?

Capital Rotation Favoring Layer 2 Infrastructure

In 2025, data from Artemis highlighted that Arbitrum [ARB] attracted the highest net inflows among leading blockchain platforms. This reflected a strategic shift toward networks that offer scalability, liquidity, and established reliability. Investors seem to be focusing on long-term infrastructure rather than quick speculative returns.

Source: Artemis

What stands out is that Arbitrum's inflows are steady, indicating a solid structural position rather than fleeting capital shifts.

Strengthening On-Chain Fundamentals

Throughout 2025, Arbitrum's fundamental on-chain metrics improved significantly. The total value locked increased to nearly $20 billion, showcasing robust liquidity. Additionally, tokenized stocks trading via Robinhood exceeded $50 million, indicating real-world market engagement.

By October, Arbitrum achieved about $4.5 million in monthly revenue across various sectors, with cumulative fees from Arbitrum Timeboost surpassing $6 million. The participation in Timeboost auctions was concentrated among just a few entities, hinting at early institutional interest instead of signs of demand fatigue.

Clear Activity Without Incentives

Arbitrum consistently ranked among the top Layer 2 networks based on transaction volume, following only behind Base. Notably, this level of user activity persisted without the impetus of airdrop incentives, suggesting that users are engaging with the platform due to genuine application use rather than speculative frenzy.

Compared to its competitors, Arbitrum has maintained a consistent transaction throughput without experiencing the volatility that often accompanies incentive campaigns.

ARB Price Compression and Indicators

As of December 28th, ARB has continued to trade within a long-term falling wedge, resting near its lower limit at around $0.19. Despite several tests of this support level, the price has not seen significant declines. Historically, similar patterns have often led to upward price movements.

Source: TradingView

Momentum indicators currently suggest hesitation rather than a decline. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovers near neutrality, while the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) shows muted momentum. This leaves us questioning whether ARB's price is absorbing weakness or gearing up for an upward move.

Final Thoughts

As Arbitrum continues to lead in capital inflows and demonstrates strong user engagement, the question remains: will it translate into price growth for ARB in the coming year? With steady fundamentals and increased institutional interest, all eyes will be on Arbitrum to see how it navigates the complexities of the evolving crypto landscape.