The central theses

• Ethereum Layer 2 community Optimism introduces a token and a brand new governance mannequin.
• The Optimism workforce has introduced that the token might be distributed through a collection of airdrops and that new customers can nonetheless take part.
• Optimism is one among a number of Layer 2 options designed to assist Ethereum obtain scalability.

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Optimism is new OP tokens might be distributed to Optimism customers over “a full season of airdrops”. The workforce unveiled its token as half of a bigger motion towards a decentralized governance construction generally known as the Optimism Collective.

Optimism introduces tokens

Ethereum energy customers will get one other airdrop – really a variety of them.

Optimism, one among Ethereum’s main Layer 2 scaling tasks, has introduced that it’s going to concern a governance token below the ticker OP. The Optimism workforce introduced the information in a weblog submit on Tuesday. The workforce additionally shared an inventory of standards for airdrop eligibility, starting from gadgets so simple as an optimism person to extra superior standards like a DAO voter or a multisig signer.

The token airdrop would be the first in a collection of airdrops that might be launched over the approaching months. Whereas the workforce did not give an actual date for the primary airdrop, they made positive to warn customers that it isn’t stay but, and any try to persuade customers in any other case is a rip-off.

The token drop is an element of a bigger shift in the direction of a extra decentralized governance construction. The Optimism Collective, as it is going to be recognized beginning with immediately’s announcement, will characteristic a bicameral “home” system that splits management roles between a token home and a residents’ home. The token home will encompass OP receivers in the course of the first airdrop; Optimism will later add customers to the city corridor by issuing “soulbound” NFTs that can not be purchased or offered. Taken collectively, the bicameral system is meant to mitigate the doable plutocratic tendencies of purely token-based governance.

Optimism makes use of a type of cryptographic know-how referred to as Optimistic Rollups to assist Ethereum scale. By operating its personal community on high of the bottom chain, it might course of transactions at greater speeds and decrease prices than the Ethereum mainnet whereas leveraging the safety of the community. Optimism has a bridge connecting the Ethereum mainnet to its Layer 2 community. Since launching in 2021, the community has welcomed main DeFi tasks corresponding to Synthetix and Uniswap. Upon launching a token, Optimism will undertake a decentralized governance mannequin much like many different related DeFi tasks on Ethereum.

The token announcement had been awaited for a number of days, largely because of an April 19 Mirror submit through which Optimism detailed a plan to begin a brand new chapter.pushed by group possession and governance.” A leaked Coinbase web page additionally appeared to listing an optimism token final week.

Layer 2 Race intensifies

The mission has seen important development in latest months as the main focus shifts to Ethereum’s Layer 2 scaling options. In keeping with L2Beat knowledge, the community holds a complete locked worth of about $662 million, a complete that is up 15% over the previous week for the reason that token rumors surfaced. Whereas Optimism is presently benefiting from a wave of hype, it is nonetheless lagging behind its closest competitor Arbitrum, one other Layer 2 resolution of the Optimistic Rollup selection with a complete worth of $3.57 billion — greater than half the Layer -2 market of Ethereum.

Whereas optimism and arbitrage are presently two of Ethereum’s largest weapons of scale, that’s more likely to change as soon as ZK rollups like StarkWare’s StarkNet acquire important traction. Final week, early Ethereum DeFi mission MakerDAO outlined plans to launch on StarkNet, starting with a bridge launch this Thursday, as a part of its dedication to serving to the Ethereum ecosystem scale (2022 can be a giant yr for Ethereum protocol and its scaling roadmap, as it’s set to launch its much-anticipated “merge” to proof-of-stake).

Now that Optimism is dropping a token, different related Layer 2 protocols are confronted with deciding whether or not to observe swimsuit. On the planet of DeFi, it isn’t unusual for tasks to launch a token as quickly as a competitor does so, to incentivize utilization and speed up development. Anyway, alongside the merger, the race to construct out Layer 2 is more likely to change into a key narrative in Ethereumland over the subsequent few months.

Disclosure: On the time of writing this text, the writer of this text was eligible for the Optimism token airdrop. In addition they owned ETH, SNX and had publicity to a cryptocurrency index in MKR and UNI.

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