Arbitrum - vARB

All about vARB and its use in Arbitrum governance.

Overview

vARB is the "Vote-Enabled" form of ARB on Dolomite. vARB utilizes Dolomite's virtual liquidity system, enabling the unique functionality of retaining ARB's inherent ability to vote within Arbitrum's governance system while at the same time borrowing against those assets.

vARB only exists on Dolomite, it is not a withdrawable or tradable asset. Withdrawing vARB from Dolomite only adds ARB to your wallet. Any "vARB" found outside of Dolomite is not associated with Dolomite.

Note that vARB is not a new asset, but rather a way to distinguish what you can do with ARB on Dolomite.

ARB and vARB both represent the ARB token. The price displayed on Dolomite for both ARB and vARB will match the oracle price for ARB. Withdrawing vARB from Dolomite will result in ARB being added to your wallet. Their distinction from each other is purely in what you can do with ARB on Dolomite:

	ARB	vARB
Can be lent (and earns lending interest)	✅	❌
Can be borrowed	✅	❌
Can be used as collateral	✅	✅
Can be used for voting	❌	✅

ARB and vARB can be converted 1-to-1 with each other. vARB is obtained via the conversion of ARB to vARB on the Dolomite Balances page. The underlying asset, ARB, is a fully functioning asset that can be deposited/withdrawn from a user's wallet. vARB is native to Dolomite, meaning a user is unable to deposit or withdraw this asset, along with other restrictions within Dolomite, outlined below.

Obtaining vARB on Dolomite

vARB can only be obtained by a 1-to-1 exchange, converting ARB to vARB on the Dolomite Balances page, or by Zapping ARB to vARB on the Borrow page when opening, closing, and within a Borrow Position. These methods will be demonstrated below:

1. Converting between ARB and vARB on Dolomite Balances

On the Dolomite Balances page, scroll down until you see the vARB (Vote-Enabled ARB) asset. If you don't see two buttons below your vARB balances, click on the vARB asset row to expand it. Click on the "Convert ARB/vARB" button, which will bring up a conversion window. On it you will see information about vARB, as well as tabs to select whether you would like to go from ARB to vARB or vARB to ARB.

When converting ARB to vARB, you will see your available ARB balance displayed above the input field. Enter the amount you would like to convert to vARB, or click on your balance shown above the input field to use your full balance. Once you have entered the amount you wish to convert to vARB in the input field, you can proceed with the conversion.

If you haven't converted any ARB to vARB in the past, the button at the bottom will say "Create Dolomite Vault". This is a one time step to set up the vault that will hold your vARB, and is what enables the vARB to be used for Arbitrum governance voting while continuing to interact with the Dolomite ecosystem. Click the button and sign the transaction to create your vault.

If you've created your vault already, the button at the bottom will say "Convert ARB to vARB". Clicking this will prompt a transaction in your wallet. Sign the transaction to submit the conversion, and shortly afterwards you will see your ARB and vARB balances update. Congratulations, you have converted your ARB to vARB, you can now delegate while using the value of ARB to borrow against vARB!

2. Zapping between ARB and vARB

Beyond converting between ARB and vARB on the Dolomite Balances page, you are also able to Zap applicable assets to vARB, and vARB to applicable assets in regards to Borrow Positions. vARB can be zapped to and from any asset just as regular ARB can, as long as it remains within the constraints laid out at the start of this docs page (such as vARB not being borrowable).

In the example image below, the transaction shown will borrow MIM and convert it to vARB, resulting in MIM debt and more vARB collateral.

Example of using Zap to loop vARB by borrowing MIM and zapping it to more vARB, increasing governance votes.

Delegating vARB

Once you have created a Dolomite Vault for vARB or converted to vARB for the first time, you can delegate your vARB. By default, the vARB votes are delegated to your wallet. Both vARB in your Balance and across all collateral in Borrow Positions will be delegated.

Delegates to "self" by default.

If you wish to change the wallet the votes are directed to, you can do so by clicking on the vARB asset in your Dolomite Balance to expand the asset row if it is not already expanded, displaying two buttons. Click on the "Delegate Votes" button, and enter the wallet address you wish to delegate all your vARB to, or select from the displayed list to auto-fill any of the listed addresses. After you have entered the wallet address to delegate to, click on the green "Delegate" button. After a confirmation in your wallet, all the vARB will be delegated.

Minimum Collateralization

The minimum collateralization for vARB is 120%, or in terms of percent LTV, 83.3333% LTV. In comparison, the minimum collateralization for ARB is 115%, or 86.9565% LTV.

Risk

vARB is not a borrowable asset and is permanently in Collateral-Only Mode and has an Isolation Mode Level 1.

Fees

There are no special fees for converting between vARB and ARB.