Why Arbitrum Nova is not a great blockchain for a project to be on

Arbitrum Nova is the lesser-known blockchain developed by Arbitrum Labs. Most people think that Arbitrum One is the only Arbitrum blockchain and generally refer to it as Arbitrum.

Arbitrum Nova is still an Ethereum L2 blockchain, but it is more centralized than Arbitrum One. This increased centralization brings the transaction cost down to a fraction of a cent vs $0.20 for Arbitrum One.

Arbitrum Nova was designed as a social media and gaming blockchain. These applications require fast and cheap transactions and a more centralized blockchain is normally not an issue. Due to the design of the chain, Arbitrum Nova is not a good chain for financial products and defi.

Minimal Chain Usage

There has been minimal uptake of Arbitrum Nova by projects with Reddit being the biggest user by far. Arbirtrum Nova's centralization makes it less appealing for defi and many other applications where sacrificing speed and low-cost for centralization is not worth it.

Small Chain Community

Many projects grow by incorporating partnerships and word of mouth among other projects on the same chain. Many “new” blockchains have a community that is deeply involved in the ecosystem. Arbitrum Nova does not have that. There will not be a lot of project growth from the native chain.

Minimal CEX Support

Arbitrum Nova ETH has minimal support from centralized exchanges. FTX had given Arbitrum Nova ETH native support as Reddit’s partner CEX, but Binance, Coinbase, KuCoin, Kraken, Gemini, and the list goes on do not support it. (It is rumored that KuCoin tried to list an Arbitrum Nova token and did not know Arbitrum Nova existed).

Most exchanges do not add blockchain support for a low market cap project (like all the projects on Arbitrum Nova are).

People Are Lazy

Many users are not willing to learn about a new blockchain to invest in a new project and stick to projects on well-known blockchains. Most people in crypto don't know the difference between Arbitrum Nova and Arbitrum One and have no interest in finding out about it. A project on Arbitrum Nova will have a lower investor base to draw from since people are lazy.