Arbitrum today shows two very different sides: first, native NFTs tied to strong communities and DeFi projects; second, games and game infrastructure moving onto Layer 3/Orbit chains like Xai and Sanko, with Treasure as the main hub. This article looks at the top projects in each sector, chosen by market cap, on-chain activity, community strength, and their role in the ecosystem.
How Arbitrum Grew in 2025
Through 2025, Arbitrum became one of the busiest and most reliable networks for crypto apps. Token Terminal reported in April 2025 that activity on Arbitrum had already grown by 40% since the start of the year.
Arbitrum One’s onchain usage activity is up 40.27% YTD
Worldchain, Base, and Solana have seen a drop in onchain activity YTD
Top applications in the Arbitrum One ecosystem: Uniswap, GMX, Aave, Camelot, Fluid, Dolomite, Layer3, and more. pic.twitter.com/P4KsWUawXn
— Token Terminal 📊 (@tokenterminal) April 5, 2025
By late August, data from Arbiscan showed that the network handled more than 3 million transactions daily, with 450,000 to 500,000 active wallets. This level of activity gives NFTs and games a strong base to grow, since both depend on fast speeds and low fees to attract users.
For more: Arbitrum DeFi Ecosystem in 2025 is Rapidly Evolving
Source: Arbiscan
The NFT Market: Usefulness Over Hype
NFTs on Arbitrum in 2025 are less about hype and quick flips. What stands out now are collections that people actually care about and stick with over time. Trading is not huge, but the top sets hold steady, which shows the market is growing up.
Source: DappRadar
Aethir Checker License is the best example of this trend. In the last 30 days, these NFTs saw about $642.89k in trading volume, a solid number for Arbitrum, according to DappRadar.
Source: DappRadar
Interestingly, most of that trading didn’t happen every day. It does seem like holding an Aethir Checker License NFT is a long-term investment, not to flip for a quick profit. Besides just holding the NFTs, people could use them to run a part of Aethir’s cloud network and earn an extra reward.
Source: Coingecko
Besides the Aethir Checker License, Smol Brains is another blue-chip NFT collection. The collection is part of the Smolverse metaverse. It launched in 2021 and still holds cultural value. By late August 2025, according to Coingecko data, the collection had a market cap of about 605 ETH, a 24-hour volume of 0.14 ETH, and a 0.047 ETH average sale price.
Source: DappRadar
Another highlight NFT collection is the Arbitrum Odyssey NFTs. It first came out in 2022 during the Odyssey campaign, which brought many new users to the network. In 2025, they still hold value with a market cap of over $13.6 million. The Arbitrum Foundation used them again in events this year, keeping them as symbols of the ecosystem.
Altogether, the top NFT collections on Arbitrum have a market cap of more than $40 million. That’s smaller than Ethereum or Solana, but it shows how important local communities are. Instead of hype, Arbitrum NFTs grow from loyalty and long-term identity.
Top Game & Gaming Infrastructure on Arbitrum/Orbit
Gaming on Arbitrum in 2025 is both exciting and tough. Mostly gaming projects on Arbitrum are tending to move to Layer 3—Orbit—to improve costs and user experiences. We should take notice of Treasure, Xai and Sanko as the backbone and other gaming projects cling to these hubs.
Arbitrum Gaming Projects
A May 2025 DappRadar report showed blockchain gaming had fewer players overall. To boost growth, the 200 million ARB tokens in the Arbitrum Gaming Ventures fund began funding new projects, showing that the ecosystem is serious about building long-term.
For more: Ethereum Gaming and NFT Ecosystem: Analysis and Key Trends
Source: Arbitrum DAO Forum
Spartadex is currently the most played game, with about 1740 unique active wallets in the last 30 days. It mixes a game with a crypto exchange, which keeps users engaged and gives the project steady fee revenue.
Gaming Infrastructure
Treasure (MAGIC) remains Arbitrum’s main gaming hub with $1.9 million worth of assets in dApp’s smart contract. The MAGIC token had a market cap of about $65–67 million in late August 2025 (CoinGecko/CMC).
TreasureDAO is pleased to be the recipient of 8M $ARB tokens – the highest allocation to be offered to any DAO on @Arbitrum.
As one of its earliest projects, we have put Arbitrum gaming and NFTs on the map, with Treasure being attributable to 95%+ of all related transactions on… https://t.co/KTbRdUswhV pic.twitter.com/0abU0EcsnE
— Treasure (@Treasure_DAO) March 21, 2023
In 2023, the Treasure ecosystem has handled more than $265 million in total volume, supports over 20 games, and has more than 80,000 MAGIC holders. In 2025, MAGIC traded between $0.12 and $0.21, with daily liquidity around $8–10 million. Even with a slower market, Treasure is still holding strong.
Source: DappRadar
Xai Network (XAI) is the first Layer 3 chain made for games, built with Arbitrum Orbit. In August 2025, its market cap was between $63–85 million, with more than $25 million traded every day. Its Twitter/X page has over 299,000 followers. In 2025, Xai ran more than 10 game showcases and drew in indie studios to build. It also uses Proof-of-Skill to fight bots, making the games fairer.
Source: Coingecko
Sanko (Dream Machine Token, DMT) is another Layer 3 on Orbit. It focuses on small games and on-chain culture. DMT/WDMT tokens saw $8–12 million in daily trading volume in 2025, though reported market caps vary depending on circulating supply. In just one year, dozens of new small games launched directly on Sanko, making it a lively, experimental chain.
Arbitrum Gaming Projects
The Beacon is one of the most awaited games on Arbitrum. In 2025, it announced a public playtest on the Epic Games Store from September 4 to 7. The Discord channel has more than 100,000 members, making it one of the busiest communities on Arbitrum. It shows that on-chain games can reach bigger platforms.
BattleFly, an auto-battler game within the Treasure ecosystem, keeps steady activity. In 2025, its related NFTs traded between $200,000–500,000 a month, and the game has run continuously since 2022. This makes it one of the longest-living blockchain games on Arbitrum.
We’ve got big news to share:
The Lost Glitches has just secured over $1 million USD in fresh support from two very different powerhouses: the German Federal Government’s games‑funding program (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media) and Arbitrum Gaming… pic.twitter.com/hoMj33pTfr
— The Lost Glitches (@TheLostGlitches) August 4, 2025
The Lost Glitches, a trading card game built on Xai, reached its closed beta in 2025. Tens of thousands of players signed up to test it, showing how Xai can support full-featured games that feel more like traditional online titles. The reason why The Lost Glitches received attention from communities is the team secured over $1 million USD from the German Federal Government’s games‑funding program and Arbitrum Gaming Ventures.
Tough day. Shutting down Pirate Nation was one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make.
We started Proof of Play to explore what fully onchain games could look like—games with permanence, community ownership, and new types of player experiences. Pirate Nation was our first… https://t.co/4bYH4ZM7yt
— Amitt (@amittm) August 19, 2025
Pirate Nation is a different story. It was once a big showcase game on Apex, an Arbitrum Orbit chain. But on August 19, 2025, the team shut it down. Even with strong tech supporting the game, the project didn’t last long. What can be withdrawn here is not every project survives, and players and investors must look at long-term sustainability, not just hype.
NFTs vs Games on Arbitrum
By late 2025, NFTs and games on Arbitrum show different strengths. NFTs are all about cultural value and loyal communities. The top collections together are worth just over $40 million, but they’re stable and recognized. Games, on the other hand, have bigger numbers. Tokens like MAGIC and XAI each hold market caps above $60 million and much higher daily trading volumes. The shift to Layer 3 chains like Xai and Sanko makes games the clear growth focus for Arbitrum in 2025.
Conclusion
In the first and second quarters of 2025, we can see that the NFTs and games sector on Arbitrum are maturing fast. NFTs reward projects with real community and meaning, not hype. Games focus on building solid economies, better infrastructure, and reaching more players. With the network itself growing stronger every month, Arbitrum is set to bring in even more developers, users, and long-lasting projects in the years ahead.