Optimism is the name commonly used to refer to the OP Mainnet Layer-2 network (L2), the first EVM-compatible optimistic rollup. It exists to scale crypto transaction throughput by providing low-fee transactions that settle to Ethereum, inheriting its security.

In recent years, the name Optimism has grown to represent a broader ecosystem of crypto networks known as the Optimism Superchain, based on the open-source OP Stack infrastructure. The OP Mainnet blockchain is just one of several widely-used L2 chains, such as Base and Zora, built with OP Stack.

This blog post will cover where Optimism came from and what makes up its core components, such as the OP token and governance structures, and discuss the Superchain vision where different networks and layers can communicate for enhanced interoperability!

The Optimism Superchain 

The Superchain is Optimism’s horizontally scalable network of L2 scaling solutions that share Ethereum as a security foundation. It is a communication layer that uses a standardized open-source development stack. Being a permissionless system for deploying new solutions with a shared ruleset, it opens the door for scaling Web3 and quickly laucnhing robust new chains complete with bridging, governance, and shared upgrades and communication. At its core is OP Mainnet, the original Layer 2 optimistic rollup chain launched by Optimism. 

OP Mainnet serves as a general-purpose scaling solution for Ethereum. It achieves this through optimistic rollups, which process transactions off-chain and periodically submit batched transaction data to Ethereum for final settlement. Optimistic rollups have been impactful for L2s as they treat transactions as valid, with a dispute period during which invalid transactions can be identified. Ultimately, this improves scalability by increasing the number of transactions per second (TPS) and reducing transaction costs.

Diving into OP Stack

OP Stack is the underlying open-source, modular framework used by all networks on the Superchain. Developers can deploy the stack, which comprises multiple layers of components, and customize their chains according to their specific requirements, which has given rise to new L2 and L3 solutions. Projects that use the OP Stack gain scalability while benefiting from Ethereum as their foundation. Some of the components of the OP Stack include:

• Data Availability Layer: Determines where and how the chain's data is stored.
• Sequencing Layer: Manages transaction ordering and block production.
• Settlement Layer: Handles the final settlement of transactions, usually on Ethereum. 
• Execution Layer: Processes transactions and updates the rollup’s state.

Prominent projects that have been launched or are being built with the OP Stack include:

• Base: Developed in collaboration with Coinbase, Base is a general-purpose L2 aimed at “bringing the next billion users onchain.” It leverages Coinbase's vast user base and Optimism's technology to create a highly accessible and scalable platform.
• Zora: Focused mainly on NFTs and digital media, Zora represents a kind of specialized environment for creators and collectors with inexpensive mining and trading.
• Mode: An L2 which aims at redistributing sequencer revenue to smart contract developers in an effort to  incentivize innovation on the platform.
• Manta Network: An L2 built on the OP Stack by combining EVM with zero-knowledge (ZK) technology.
• Redstone: A chain built from scratch to provide high performance for onchain gaming. It leverages the OP Stack with Plasma Mode for scalable data availability, sacrificing Ethereum's traditional data availability.

These chains demonstrate the versatility of the OP Stack, enabling specialized environments for everything from general-purpose blockchains to more optimized applications for use cases like NFTs and gaming. Several of these projects were funded by the Optimism Collective. 

The Optimism Collective

As the Optimism ecosystem expands, its trajectory is guided by the Optimism Collective, a decentralized governance structure that ensures consensus before implementing significant changes. 

The Collective includes two houses: the Token House, composed of OP token holders who vote on protocol upgrades and project funding, and the Citizens' House, a more exclusive group selected based on specific criteria, who are explicitly tasked with overseeing the distribution of Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RetroPGF). This model of dual governance balances short-term incentives with long-term value creation, leading to a sustainable and thriving ecosystem.

RetroPGF: Funding across the Superchain

RetroPGF is an incentive mechanism that recognizes and rewards past contributions that benefit the Optimism network. This system ensures that valuable projects and initiatives receive funding based on their impact as determined by the community, even if such impact only becomes evident later. By voting on which projects should receive support, citizens (community members who hold the citizen badge) play a crucial role in sustaining and enhancing the development of public goods across the Superchain.

Optimism’s OP token use cases

On OP Mainnet, the OP token serves as the governance token. OP token is an ERC-20 token for which the main goal to allow members of society to participate in governance matters, where voting power is tied to the number of tokens held, and provide funding within the overall framework of Optimism’s policies. This feature makes it important for managing decentralized networks, such as voting on proposals. OP is unique to the OP Mainnet and not used across the larger Superchain network L2 chains built with the OP Stack, though votes cast may affect the wider network due to shared upgrades across the Superchain.

Other use cases for OP token

Beyond governance and RetroPGF distribution, Optimism's OP token has several other uses within the Optimism ecosystem. It acts as an incentive for developers, creators, and active participants, fostering a community. OP token's utility can be summarized as: 

• Enabling decentralized governance.
• Rewarding positive network behavior. 
• Funding public goods development across the Optimism Superchain ecosystem. 

Governance on Optimism

The governance of the Optimism ecosystem is driven by OP token. In order to get community inputs, proposals for governance are introduced and debated on the Optimism Forum. When such non-grant proposals come from Token House, they go for an official vote on-chain only if at least four of the top 100 delegates actively taking part in the conversation vote in favor of them. These on-chain votes are carried out through the use of Optimism Agora platform which enhances transparent decision-making and promotes active community participation in governance matters.

To vote using your OP tokens:

1. Visit Agora and connect the wallet containing your OP tokens.
2. Review current active proposals and choose one that you want to vote on.
3. Place your vote using the Vote button. There votes are cast onchain and binding.

OP holders can also delegate voting power to other wallets if they don’t want to participate directly.

OP token airdrop phases

Optimism introduced a novel approach to token distribution, launching a series of OP token airdrops spaced out across multiple years, to sustainably reward different kinds of contributions from its community. Four Optimism airdrop phases have been completed so far.

Here is a recap of the past Optimism airdrops:

• Phase 1: The first airdrop, which occurred in May 2022, distributed over 200 million OP tokens, comprising 5% of the supply, to 248,699 unique addresses. This initial phase focused on early adopters, active Ethereum participants, and those whose high gas fees would price out. The goal was to reward existing Optimism users and attract core Ethereum users to the OP ecosystem.
• Phase 2: In February 2023, the second airdrop distributed 11,742,277 OP (about 1.05% of the current circulating supply) to 307,965 unique addresses. This stage mainly rewarded governance participation and OP Mainnet power users. Criteria included governance delegation rewards and partial gas rebates for active users​.
• Phase 3: The third Optimism airdrop was held in September 2023 and distributed 19,411,313 OP (approximately 1.73% of the current circulating supply) to 31,870 unique addresses. This phase specifically aimed to reward people who delegated tokens or ratified them between January and July of the year mentioned.
• Phase 4: In February 2024, the fourth airdrop distributed 10,343,758 OP (about 0.92% of the current circulating supply) to 22,998 unique addresses. This exercise appreciated contributions made by artists and creators from the Superchain ecosystem, honored those who deployed NFT contracts while undertaking creative activities and received an overwhelmingly positive response from the community. 

In an attempt to reward certain components of the community, Optimism’s airdrop criteria for each phase are more specific. Instead of airdropping vast amounts to all onchain users based on given criteria at once, the Optimism airdrop carefully rewards various participants, giving them the focus of that specific airdrop phase and could work as a better incentivization mechanism. 

Will there be future OP token airdrops?

Future airdrops are planned to continue rewarding community contributions and fostering growth within the ecosystem. 14% of the OP token supply has been reserved for these future Optimism airdrop phases. The Optimism Foundation will determine the metrics for these airdrops, focusing on rewarding meaningful contributions to the ecosystem. However, it has notably ruled out participation in governance forums from the criteria. 

How to trade on Optimism

Trading on Optimism is similar to trading on Ethereum mainnet but with lower fees and faster transaction times.

Add OP Mainnet in your wallet

To start, you will need a wallet that supports Optimism. You can use most crypto wallets, though some require you to manually add Optimism.

If you use Metamask or another wallet that doesn't automatically show Optimism in the list of supported networks, here's how to add Optimism to your wallet:

1. Open your wallet extension and click on the Network icon.
2. Select Add Network and enter the following parameters:

Trading on Optimism is popular, with trade volumes consistently in the top 10 chains, as it offers advantages over Ethereum in the form of faster and cheaper transactions,  drastically improving the trading experience for frequent traders. 

Bridge over to Optimism

Optimism officially discontinued its Optimism Bridge in May 2024 as part of efforts toward increased decentralization and cultivating a more resilient bridging ecosystem. Rather than maintaining its own front end, Optimism now depends on ecosystem partners to provide bridge services. Here are some current alternatives for bridging from Ethereum to Optimism:

Ecosystem bridges

‍Optimism recommends some third-party bridging solutions, such as Brid.gg and Superbridge. With these services, users can transfer assets between Ethereum and Optimism.

Look into other options: Users can look out for other bridges being built on the Superchain. This is meant to promote more distributed and stronger bridging ecosystems.

Important Note: For security reasons, withdrawals from Optimism to Ethereum have a 7-day withdrawal period. This allows for invalid transactions to be disputed. Once you have bridged ETH to Optimism, you can then swap for the token you want in a second transaction. For direct swaps from one chain to the specific token you want, you can use a cross-chain swap, which we cover below. 

Third-party bridges

Ecosystem-supported bridges, which you can find on Optimism.io, offer an alternative for faster transfers from networks like Ethereum to Optimism but are usually more costly. These bridges bypass long waiting periods by using their own funds on both chains, taking on the risk of disputed transactions in exchange for a fee.

Matcha cross-chain swaps

A great alternative to the above options is Matcha’s cross-chain swaps, a great way to get directly to the token you want from any of 7 networks, including Optimism. A cross-chain swap circumvents the long waits for deposits or withdrawals, and uses bridge aggregation to find you the best rates from multiple options.

Advantages of Cross-Chain Swaps

• Faster and more convenient: No need for a 7-day withdrawal period.
• Direct swaps across networks: Swap directly from one token to another without being limited in token choice or needing multiple separate transactions.
• Best price: Matcha compares prices across multiple trusted bridges to get you the best price without charging any additional fees.

How to perform a cross-chain swap on Matcha

1. Visit Matcha and connect your wallet.
2. Choose the Cross Chain tab and select the token and amount you want to swap.
3. Choose a destination network, such as Optimism, and select the token you want to receive.
4. Review the transaction details, including the estimated gas fees, and confirm the swap.

Cross-chain swaps are faster and more convenient than the abovementioned traditional bridging methods, and in many cases are also cheaper. Matcha compares all your options automatically and lets you complete a direct token swap trade across chains in one go.

Who created Optimism?

Optimism started in 2019 as a non-profit organization, Plasma Group, created to research Ethereum scalability solutions. The founders, Benjamin Jones, Karl Floersch, Jing Wang, and Kevin Ho, rebranded it in January 2020 to Optimism; this was the first step to becoming an L2 scaling solution for Ethereum, which would increase transaction throughput and reduce costs while keeping security guarantees of Ethereum.

The project grew quickly during its early stages and released an alpha version of the Optimistic Virtual Machine (OVM) in February 2020. Later that same year, they staged testnet releases starting in September 2020, followed by a soft mainnet launch at the beginning of the next year. After a few months of controlled growth combined with security improvements aided by bug bounties, Optimism achieved an important milestone on December 16th, 2021, when it went live on the mainnet.

In June 2022, the governance token called OP was introduced by Optimism to decentralize the project, allowing community members to take part in the decision-making process. Through OP, token holders can vote on proposals and direct funding via Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RetroPGF). Several waves of airdrops have distributed tokens among different groups within the ecosystem - from initial users up to developers or creators themselves, but throughout all these changes, ETH has remained the native gas fee currency for Optimism, thus improving compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem and overall simplifying user experience.

Optimal trading on Optimism!

With sustainable L2 scaling at its core, an open modular tech stack approach, a flourishing incentivized ecosystem, and a robust governance system, it’s no wonder that many believe Optimism could be one way, among others, toward realizing Ethereum’s full potential. With the optimized scalability comes an optimized trading experience. Try trading on Optimism with Matcha today!