Ethereum Layer 2 Community Optimism Is Shedding a Token

Optimism’s unusual OP token will be disbursed to Optimism users at some stage in “a entire season of airdrops.” The team printed its token as part of a increased transfer in direction of a decentralized governance structure identified because the Optimism Collective.

Optimism Launches Token 

Ethereum energy users are getting one other airdrop—a series of them, genuinely.

Optimism, one of Ethereum’s top Layer 2 scaling projects, has launched that this might maybe well be issuing a governance token below the ticker OP. The Optimism team printed the solutions in a blog post Tuesday. The team additionally shared a checklist of criteria for airdrop eligibility, which involves gadgets as easy as being an Optimism person to more developed criteria much like being a DAO voter or multisig signer. 

The token airdrop will be the first in a series of airdrops to be released in the arriving months. Whereas the team did not provide an precise date for the first airdrop, it took care to warn users that it is miles not live yet, and any strive to convince users otherwise is a scam.

The token drop is an part of a increased transfer to a more decentralized governance structure. The Optimism Collective, as this might maybe well be identified as of as of late’s announcement, will feature a bicameral “residence” procedure that divides governance roles among a Token Home and a Residents’ Home. The Token Home will be made out of recipients of OP all the intention in which during the first airdrop; Optimism will add users to the Residents’ Home later via issuing “soulbound” NFTs that might maybe well not be bought or offered. Collectively, the bicameral procedure in intended to mitigate the that you would also think plutocratic traits of purely token-basically based governance.

Optimism leverages a affect of cryptographic technology known as Optimistic Rollups to help Ethereum scale. By working its own network on top of the rotten chain, it’ll task transactions at the next tempo and decrease payment than Ethereum mainnet whereas leveraging the protection of the network. Optimism has a bridge that connects Ethereum mainnet to its Layer 2 network. Since launching in 2021, the network has welcomed key DeFi projects treasure Synthetix and Uniswap. In launching a token, Optimism will be adopting a decentralized governance model an much like many diversified the same DeFi projects on Ethereum. 

The token announcement had been anticipated for several days, thanks basically to an Apr. 19 Replicate post whereby Optimism detailed a conception to open a peculiar chapter “pushed by crew ownership and governance.” A leaked Coinbase page additionally perceived to checklist an Optimism token final week.  

Layer 2 Rush Intensifies

The project has seen predominant development over the final few months amid increased point of curiosity on Ethereum’s Layer 2 scaling solutions. In response to L2Beat info, the network holds about $662 million in total price locked, a sum that’s jumped 15% over the final week for the reason that token rumors started to surface. Notably, even though Optimism is currently making the most of a wave of hype, it’s calm lagging in the aid of its ultimate competitor, Arbitrum, one other Layer 2 resolution of the Optimistic Rollup selection retaining $3.57 billion in total price locked—more than half the Ethereum Layer 2 market. 

Whereas Optimism and Arbitrum are currently two of Ethereum’s ultimate scaling weapons, that’s anticipated to replace once ZK-Rollups treasure StarkWare’s StarkNet net predominant traction. Final week, the early Ethereum DeFi project MakerDAO outlined plans to start on StarkNet taking off with a bridge start this Thursday as part of its dedication to helping the Ethereum ecosystem scale (2022 is additionally a wide 365 days for the Ethereum protocol and its scaling roadmap, as it’s as a result of start its highly anticipated “Merge” to Proof-of-Stake). 

With Optimism now dropping a token, diversified the same Layer 2 protocols face a resolution of whether or not to be conscious swimsuit. On this planet of DeFi, it’s not abnormal for projects to release a token once a competitor does to incentivize utilization and reduction bootstrap development. Both intention, alongside the Merge, the trail to make out Layer 2 is doubtless to become a key story in Ethereumland over the subsequent few months. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the creator of this fragment owned ETH, SNX, and had exposure to MKR and UNI in a cryptocurrency index. They mistakenly opinion they were eligible for the first spherical of Optimism’s OP airdrop, but later realized that they had not been incorporated.