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Priority fees collection

ArbOS 60 ("Elara") introduces the capability for chain owners to collect priority fees (tips) on their Arbitrum chain. The feature ships disabled, and a chain owner can enable it through a deliberate, two-step action.

Activation requires a separate Constitutional vote

For Arbitrum One and Nova, enabling this feature requires an additional Constitutional DAO vote — it isn't activated as part of the ArbOS 60 upgrade itself. The upgrade only makes tip collection possible for chains that opt in.

How to enable tip collection​

The chain owner calls the ArbOwner precompile at 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000070:

// Enable tip collection
IArbOwner(address(0x70)).setCollectTips(true);

// Disable it again
IArbOwner(address(0x70)).setCollectTips(false);

// Read the current state
bool collecting = IArbOwner(address(0x70)).getCollectTips();

ArbOwner is access-controlled — only the chain owner (typically the DAO or a designated operator address) can call these methods. The implementation is in precompiles/ArbOwner.go.

How tips are collected​

Once enabled, any priorityFee (EIP-1559 maxPriorityFeePerGas) included in a transaction is collected the same way all other gas fees are, and routed into an onchain account. No separate infrastructure is needed.

Activation and receipt timing​

If tip-paying transactions land in the same block but before the transaction that enables fee collection, tips aren't collected from those earlier transactions — but their receipts will report tips as if they were. This is a known issue.

To avoid it, the chain owner can either:

  • enable tip collection inside a delayed transaction, or
  • ensure the enabling transaction is the first (or only) transaction in its block.

Tip-based transaction ordering​

Enabling collection alone does not change how transactions are ordered. For priority fees to actually influence sequencing, the chain needs both:

  1. setCollectTips(true) — activates fee collection via ArbOwner.
  2. Updated sequencer logic — the sequencer must be configured to read the PriorityFee field when sorting transactions.

Without step 2, the sequencer continues to use its existing ordering rules (such as Timeboost) regardless of the priority fee attached to a transaction.

References​