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

In crypto, revenue, fees, and users matter more than narratives — and Arbitrum checks all three.While market narratives rotated aggressively, capital quietly consolidated into scalable infrastructure. Ethereum’s Layer 2 Arbitrum steadily absorbed that capital throughout 2025, signaling confidence in production-ready execution environments.Despite this steady inflow, Arbitrum lagged underlying growth. At the time of writing, ARB’s price remained subdued near multi-month lows.So, if capital continued flowing in, why did the price stay compressed?Capital rotation favored Layer 2 infrastructureArbitrum [ARB] recorded the highest net inflows among major chains in 2025, based on Artemis on-chain data.This trend reflected capital rotation toward networks offering scalability, liquidity, and proven reliability. Arbitrum benefited as investors prioritized infrastructure over short-term speculation.Source: ArtemisUnlike incentive-driven surges, Arbitrum’s inflows appeared steady. This consistency suggested structural positioning rather than transient capital movement.Looking at fundamental growth, the picture strengthenedOn-chain fundamentals across Arbitrum expanded throughout 2025.The total value secured reached approximately $20B, reflecting deep liquidity anchoring the network. Tokenized stocks launched via Robinhood surpassed $50M in trading volume, reinforcing real-world adoption.October revenue reached roughly $4.5M across multiple verticals. Arbitrum Timeboost surpassed $6M in cumulative fees collected.Timeboost auction participation remained concentrated among four entities, suggesting early institutional engagement rather than demand exhaustion.Activity without incentives told a clearer storyArbitrum consistently ranked among the most active Layer 2 networks by transaction count, second only to Base.Importantly, this activity persisted without airdrop incentives driving volume, suggesting organic, application-driven usage rather than speculative bursts.Compared with peers, Arbitrum maintained steady throughput without volatility spikes typically tied to incentive campaignsARB price compression meets indicator hesitationAs of the 28th of December, ARB continued trading inside a long-term falling wedge, hovering near the lower boundary around $0.19.Despite repeated tests of this support zone, the ARB price showed limited downside follow-through. Historically, similar interactions preceded upside reactions.Source: TradingViewMomentum indicators reflected hesitation rather than breakdown. RSI remained near neutral, while MACD showed muted momentum, signaling compression instead of exhaustion.Was ARB’s price absorbing weakness — or preparing for expansion?Final ThoughtsArbitrum’s 2025 inflows reflected sustained on-chain capital rotation supported by usage, fees, and revenue growth.ARB price compression near $0.19 highlighted tension between strengthening fundamentals and short-term indicator hesitation heading into 2026.