Arbitrum governance took center stage over the weekend, before its self-titled foundation backed down from the controversial AIP-1 proposal and its "ratification" vote for financial activities already taken.
After admitting that AIP-1 was unlikely to pass amid a deluge of negative votes, the Arbitrum Foundation has decided to break the dense AIP into smaller portions.
"AIP-1 is too large and covers too many themes," it tweeted, adding, "We will follow the DAO's advise and divide the AIP into pieces, allowing the community to discuss and vote on the various subsections."
The drama has resulted in a significant drop in the price of Arbitrum's governance token, which is down around 5% in the last 24 hours. Notwithstanding the price drops on Sunday, on-chain data reveals that many proverbial whales — huge holdings with market-swaying impact — remain hesitant to sell.
Arbitrum whale 0xe04d has yet to sell any ARB governance tokens despite purchasing them on Binance three days ago. They currently have 4,048,948 tokens in their possession. Another Arbitrum whale, 0xadf5, has yet to sell any ARB governance tokens despite purchasing them on OKX three days ago. It now has 4,099,518 tokens valued at $4,837,431.
Meanwhile, around 12:00 EDT, Arbitrum whale 0xa252 earned around 676,000 tokens from Binance. The ARB hoard presently stands at 1,679,798 tokens, which were purchased at an average cost of $1.24 per token, according to on-chain analysis account Lookonchain.
According to Lookonchain, the largest Arbitrum buyer, 0xb154, still has 9.94 million tokens at an average buying cost of $1.26, after adding 111 tokens late last night.
Yet, not every Arbitrum whale is holding. 0x1dd9 lost almost $141,000 after selling 2.03 million tokens for ether at an average price of $1.15 — despite the fact that it still possesses 500,102 ARB.
Recently, whale 0x09d4 transferred 700,000 Arbitrum governance tokens to Binance. According to Lookonchain, their average purchase price was $1.41, and they still have 1,215,453 tokens. Despite whales appear to be holding on to their governance tokens for the time being, The Arbitrum Foundation has its detractors.
In reaction to what some call "decentralization theater," The Arbitrum Foundation said it will offer transparency reports to show how monies will be spent more clearly. In addition, its special grants program will be renamed "Ecosystem Development Fund."
"We believe that having a Foundation that is empowered to act in the service of the DAO is important for Arbitrum's success," the company said in a tweet, adding, "We clearly could have communicated that better, and will take this opportunity to improve and continue to build Arbitrum as the most community-centric L2."