Tony Kim
Mar 16, 2026 10:50
The Graph shares detailed playbook for migrating Web3 protocols from Ethereum to Arbitrum, reaching 100% indexing rewards on L2 as of June 2024.
The Graph has revealed a complete breakdown of its migration from Ethereum mainnet to Arbitrum One, providing a uncommon technical playbook for protocols contemplating the identical transfer. The indexing protocol accomplished its transition on June twenty eighth, 2024, when 100% of indexing rewards shifted to L2.
For builders and protocol groups weighing comparable choices, the main points matter greater than the headlines.
Why Indexers Pushed for the Transfer
Excessive gasoline charges on Ethereum mainnet hit Indexers hardest. These community individuals—who course of and serve blockchain information queries—confronted mounting operational prices that threatened the protocol’s accessibility. The group formalized the choice via GIP-0031, deciding on Arbitrum One over competing L2s for 3 causes: interoperability through customized bridging, confirmed know-how maturity, and present DEX liquidity for GRT holders.
The migration wasn’t nearly cheaper transactions. The Graph used the chance to strip bonding curves from its curation mechanism, simplifying how Curators sign priceless subgraphs.
The Six-Part Playbook
In contrast to Uniswap’s strategy of deploying fully separate protocol variations, The Graph wanted to take care of state throughout each layers concurrently—a considerably extra complicated endeavor.
Sensible contracts required full rewrites to deal with rewards distribution throughout two chains. After exterior audits and testnet iterations, the protocol launched on Arbitrum at block 42,449,166 in a devnet part with out indexing rewards. Neighborhood-built failsafe mechanisms allowed rollback to L1 if catastrophic points emerged. None did.
The Graph Council then activated 5% of indexing rewards on L2 via governance vote, creating preliminary incentives whereas proving the system labored. This proportion elevated incrementally till the complete transition.
L2 Switch Instruments Modified the Sport
The true person expertise win got here from customized switch instruments that eradicated the everyday migration headache. With out them, Delegators would have wanted to un-delegate GRT, wait via the undelegation interval, manually bridge tokens (a 15-30 minute course of), find their Indexers on L2, and re-delegate whereas paying 0.5% delegation tax.
As a substitute, a single transaction dealt with every thing—GRT bridged routinely, delegation relationships preserved. This lowered help tickets dramatically and stored the group intact throughout transition.
Present Market Actuality
The technical achievement comes amid difficult market situations for GRT. Coinbase delisted GRT perpetual futures on March third, 2026, and social sentiment displays stress between infrastructure believers and holders annoyed by worth efficiency.
On the event entrance, The Graph’s Horizon Subgraph Service mainnet rollout scheduled for Q1 2026 goals to remodel the protocol right into a modular information layer—probably the subsequent catalyst for the community that now indexes information throughout Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, and Avalanche.
For protocols nonetheless working on L1, The Graph’s migration documentation serves as essentially the most detailed public case research out there. The message: L2 migration is achievable with out fragmenting your group, however solely with months of planning and purpose-built tooling.
Picture supply: Shutterstock
