USDG is live on Arbitrum

Global Dollar (USDG) launches on Arbitrum today with Fluid, Morpho, GMX, Maple, Uniswap and Kraken among the first integrations. Arbitrum joins Global Dollar Network, whose 150+ partners includes Bullish, Kraken, Mastercard, OKX, Paxos and Robinhood. 

About $4 billion of stablecoins are held on Arbitrum, pricing its trades and backing its loans across one of the largest financial ecosystems onchain. That scale is why the past year has been spent deciding which dollar the ecosystem should get behind and why today's launch arrives with so much already in place.

The dollar is Global Dollar (USDG), issued by Paxos and regulated in Singapore and the EU. It goes live on Arbitrum with a first wave of integrations running and investment behind it, including more than $10 million in incentives through the DRIP program and a proposal before the ArbitrumDAO to commit 100 million ARB and treasury assets to its growth.

A year in the making

Over the past year, Entropy Advisors, working with Offchain, the Arbitrum Foundation and Arbitrum OpCo, examined how Arbitrum should approach stablecoins. The strategy that emerged from that work brings Arbitrum into Global Dollar Network and aligns the ecosystem around a single dollar, USDG, whose growth reinvests back into the network and the builders using it. Today it arrives on Arbitrum One with liquidity, incentives and integration support already committed behind it.

"With its industry-leading technology and one of the most vibrant DeFi ecosystems in crypto, Arbitrum consistently drives massive demand for and transaction volume in US dollar-denominated stablecoins. For too long, though, none of that activity has happened in a dollar aligned with the ecosystem creating it," said Steven Goldfeder, CEO and co-founder of Offchain.

"That changes today. By joining Global Dollar Network and bringing USDG to Arbitrum with Uniswap, Morpho, GMX, Fluid, Maple and Kraken behind it, we are giving the ecosystem a dollar to build around, whose growth flows back to the platform and the teams driving it. The line-up on day one shows how much of the ecosystem is already moving in that direction."

What you can do with USDG today

Fluid and Uniswap host USDG's DEX liquidity on Arbitrum, so you can swap into and out of USDG from day one. For anyone who would rather provide liquidity than trade, USDG is the deposit asset in the GMX Dollar Vault (GLV [USDG-USDG]), which earns trading fees across GMX's BTC, ETH and SOL markets.

Holders who want USDG to earn can deposit it into a Morpho vault, where a professional curator lends it across Morpho markets within set risk parameters. Those markets include syrupUSDG from Maple. The Gauntlet USDG Premium vault is live today, with a second vault curated by Steakhouse following shortly after. View all USDG opportunities at https://arbitrumdrip.com/opportunities 

Kraken supports USDG deposits and withdrawals on Arbitrum One, so you can move between dollars and USDG without bridging. Stargate, built on LayerZero, carries USDG between Arbitrum and other chains.

How to get USDG on Arbitrum

There are four ways to get USDG on Arbitrum One, depending on where your funds are today. If they are on an exchange, buy USDG on Kraken and withdraw it with Arbitrum One selected as the network, which avoids bridging later. If they are already on Arbitrum, swap into USDG on Fluid or Uniswap. If they are on another chain, bridge USDG across with Stargate or use LI.FI to swap almost any token on another chain into USDG on Arbitrum in one step.  Businesses and institutions with a Paxos account can mint and redeem USDG directly for US dollars.

What comes next

The DAO's part is set out in a proposal published today on the Arbitrum governance forum. It asks the ArbitrumDAO to make USDG growth a strategic objective, to add 100 million ARB to the DRIP incentive program to drive USDG adoption and to deploy treasury assets in support of USDG liquidity.  The Arbitrum Foundation is also accepting applications for its USDG on Arbitrum program, which provides eligible teams building with USDG hands-on integration support.

Inside Global Dollar Network

Global Dollar Network has more than 150 partners and rewards each according to the USDG demand it creates, so an ecosystem of Arbitrum's size is the kind of partner the network was built for. USDG is issued natively on Arbitrum One and has more than $3 billion in circulation across all networks.

"There is about $4 billion of stablecoins held on Arbitrum. Until today, the ecosystem has not directly shared in the growth and economics of this asset class. With USDG, Arbitrum and builders across the platform now have a stake in the growth upside, which is what these integrations, liquidity and investments are for," said Brendan Ma, Head of Investment Strategy at the Arbitrum Foundation.

"Over time, growth in stablecoin supply will become growth that the ecosystem participates in directly. This is also an opportunity for Arbitrum as the reserve economics of the asset begin to accrue."

As a Global Dollar Network partner, Arbitrum shares in the rewards USDG earns across its ecosystem, and that share is being put to work growing USDG adoption and supporting the builders integrating it. Entropy Advisors will track USDG supply and adoption on Arbitrum at arbdata.com/usdg.

"Arbitrum hosts one of the deepest financial ecosystems onchain. Global Dollar Network exists to put USDG where that activity happens and to reward the partners who make it useful," said Peter Jonas, Chief Revenue Officer at Paxos.

"Network rewards follow the partners who create demand for USDG. With native issuance on Arbitrum One, the network now includes one of the largest financial ecosystems onchain and the rewards go back into growing it."

USDG is backed 1:1 by US dollar reserves held in cash and cash equivalents and is redeemable from Paxos for US dollars. In Singapore, it is issued by Paxos Digital Singapore, a Major Payment Institution supervised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In the EU, Paxos Issuance Europe issues USDG under FIN-FSA supervision and in compliance with MiCA.

 Learn more about Global Dollar Network at globaldollar.com.