Key Takeaways
- The Ethereum Layer 2 community Optimism is launching a token and new governance mannequin.
- The Optimism workforce has introduced that the token will probably be distributed by way of a sequence of airdrops, and that new customers can nonetheless get entangled.
- Optimism is one in all a number of Layer 2 options hoping to assist Ethereum obtain scalability.
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Optimism’s new OP token will probably be distributed to Optimism customers throughout “a complete season of airdrops.” The workforce revealed its token as half of a bigger transfer towards a decentralized governance construction often known as the Optimism Collective.
Optimism Launches Token
Ethereum energy customers are getting one other airdrop—a sequence of them, the truth is.
Optimism, one in all Ethereum’s prime Layer 2 scaling initiatives, has introduced that it is going to be issuing a governance token underneath the ticker OP. The Optimism workforce revealed the information in a blog post Tuesday. The workforce additionally shared a list of criteria for airdrop eligibility, which incorporates objects so simple as being an Optimism consumer to extra superior standards corresponding to being a DAO voter or multisig signer.
The token airdrop would be the first in a sequence of airdrops to be launched within the coming months. Whereas the workforce didn’t present an actual date for the primary airdrop, it took care to warn customers that it isn’t dwell but, and any try to persuade customers in any other case is a rip-off.
The token drop is an element of a bigger transfer to a extra decentralized governance construction. The Optimism Collective, as it is going to be often known as of right this moment’s announcement, will function a bicameral “home” system that divides governance roles amongst a Token Home and a Residents’ Home. The Token Home will probably be comprised of recipients of OP through the first airdrop; Optimism will add customers to the Residents’ Home later by means of issuing “soulbound” NFTs that can not be purchased or offered. Collectively, the bicameral system in meant to mitigate the attainable plutocratic tendencies of purely token-based governance.
Optimism leverages a type of cryptographic expertise known as Optimistic Rollups to assist Ethereum scale. By operating its personal community on prime of the bottom chain, it may course of transactions at the next pace and decrease value than Ethereum mainnet whereas leveraging the safety of the community. Optimism has a bridge that connects Ethereum mainnet to its Layer 2 community. Since launching in 2021, the community has welcomed key DeFi initiatives like Synthetix and Uniswap. In launching a token, Optimism will probably be adopting a decentralized governance mannequin akin to many different comparable DeFi initiatives on Ethereum.
The token announcement had been anticipated for a number of days, thanks primarily to an Apr. 19 Mirror post through which Optimism detailed a plan to begin a brand new chapter “pushed by neighborhood possession and governance.” A leaked Coinbase web page additionally appeared to record an Optimism token final week.
Layer 2 Race Intensifies
The undertaking has seen vital development over the previous few months amid elevated give attention to Ethereum’s Layer 2 scaling options. In keeping with L2Beat data, the community holds about $662 million in complete worth locked, a sum that’s jumped 15% over the past week for the reason that token rumors began to floor. Notably, though Optimism is at the moment benefiting from a wave of hype, it’s nonetheless lagging behind its largest competitor, Arbitrum, one other Layer 2 resolution of the Optimistic Rollup selection holding $3.57 billion in complete worth locked—greater than half the Ethereum Layer 2 market.
Whereas Optimism and Arbitrum are at the moment two of Ethereum’s largest scaling weapons, that’s anticipated to alter as soon as ZK-Rollups like StarkWare’s StarkNet achieve vital traction. Final week, the early Ethereum DeFi undertaking MakerDAO outlined plans to launch on StarkNet commencing with a bridge launch this Thursday as a part of its dedication to serving to the Ethereum ecosystem scale (2022 can also be an enormous 12 months for the Ethereum protocol and its scaling roadmap, because it’s on account of launch its extremely anticipated “Merge” to Proof-of-Stake).
With Optimism now dropping a token, different comparable Layer 2 protocols face a choice of whether or not to comply with swimsuit. On the earth of DeFi, it’s not unusual for initiatives to launch a token as soon as a competitor does to incentivize utilization and assist bootstrap development. Both method, alongside the Merge, the race to construct out Layer 2 is more likely to turn into a key narrative in Ethereumland over the following few months.
Disclosure: On the time of writing, the creator of this piece was eligible for Optimism’s token airdrop. In addition they owned ETH, SNX, and had publicity to MKR and UNI in a cryptocurrency index.
