Over a period of 186 days starting from March 23, 2023, the ARB airdrop reached more than 583,000 unique addresses and distributed a total of 1.09 billion ARB tokens.

Over 50% of users received between 100 and 2,000 ARB.
As allocation size increases, the number of recipients decreases, but the average ARB per address rises significantly.08:16 AM

Abstract

In the modern era of decentralized finance (DeFi), user behavior and retention are more critical than ever. This study utilizes the Intelligence-Driven Growth (IDG) framework—developed by Flipside Crypto—to analyze user behavior on the Arbitrum network following its airdrop. By moving beyond superficial metrics and focusing on quality and sustainability, the main objective is to identify users who contribute long-term value to the ecosystem.

1. Introduction

Airdrops have long been used in crypto projects as a strategy to attract users. However, traditional metrics—such as the number of active addresses or raw transaction volumes—fail to accurately reflect the health and sustainability of a network. This research, inspired by Flipside’s user scoring methodology, focuses on behavioral analysis, retention patterns, and intelligent segmentation to determine which users truly drive sustainable value.

2. User Segmentation Framework

Each active address was scored across seven key dimensions:
• Number of transactions
• Total gas fees spent
• Swap volume (USD)
• Volume of assets bridged
• Deposits on lending platforms
• Loans taken out
• Interactions with NFTs

Each metric was normalized on a 0–4 scale, and the cumulative score determined the user’s quality tier:
• Power User: Score ≥ 24
• High Quality: Score between 17–23
• Medium Quality: Score between 11–16
• Low Quality: Score between 5–10
• Very Low Quality: Score < 5

3. Key Implications

The results show that a small minority of highly active users are responsible for a disproportionately large share of economic activity on the network. This highlights the need for blockchain projects to shift their focus away from simply increasing address counts, and instead prioritize acquiring and retaining high-value users with meaningful engagement.

Behavioral metrics derived from on-chain data—such as Flipside’s scoring system—can enable teams to target and nurture users with high lifetime value (LTV).

The Arbitrum airdrop presented a unique opportunity to analyze user behavior at scale. Implementing an Intelligence-Driven Growth strategy not only provides clearer insights into what defines a healthy ecosystem, but also equips projects with actionable tools to improve user engagement and retention. By recognizing and understanding Power Users, teams can design smarter incentive structures and foster long-term growth.