Optimism (OP) is the governance token of Optimism (OP Mainnet), an Ethereum Layer-2 optimistic rollup that batches transactions and settles them back to Ethereum. Its token contract is a predeploy at address 0x4200000000000000000000000000000000000042 on OP Mainnet itself, not on Ethereum L1.
The underlying protocol traces to research begun in 2019, with a testnet launch in October 2019, a mainnet alpha in January 2021, and full EVM-compatible mainnet in December 2021.
Optimism differentiates itself through the OP Stack and Superchain: a shared, open-source rollup framework adopted by other chains that commit revenue back to the Optimism Collective.
Each OP Stack chain pays the Collective the greater of 2.5% of total chain revenue or 15% of onchain profit. Superchain-wide TVL was growing, ranking in the 94.4th percentile among midcap peers as of mid-August 2026, and a governance-approved buyback program now directs sequencer revenue into monthly OP repurchases.
OP is a governance token: holders use it to submit, deliberate, and vote on Optimism Collective proposals in the Token House, either directly or through delegation.
Token House participation also directs a Governance Fund toward ecosystem incentives. Separately, identity-verified Optimism citizens allocate Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RetroPGF) through the Citizens House, a distinct track that runs independently of token holdings.
OP's supply is capped near 4,294,963,292 tokens, with circulating supply of 2,287,994,831 OP as of 2026-08-31.
Daily supply growth has recently run at about -0.71%, a mild net contraction attributed to a governance-approved OP buyback program funded by sequencer revenue rather than a fixed burn mechanism.
OP launched with no public token sale, combining venture funding with a retroactive community airdrop.
Optimism raised $3.5 million in a January 2020 seed round led by Paradigm and IDEO CoLab Ventures, $25 million in a February 2021 Series A led by a16z, and $150 million in a March 2022 Series B co-led by a16z and Paradigm at a $1.65 billion valuation; a16z separately bought $90 million of OP privately under a two-year vesting schedule. The token contract was deployed April 26, 2022, and OP went live publicly via Airdrop 1 in May 2022.
OP is deployed on Optimism (OP Mainnet), an Ethereum Layer-2 optimistic rollup that inherits Ethereum's security through posted transaction data and fraud-proof dispute resolution.
OP Mainnet runs on the open-source OP Stack, the same framework used by other Superchain chains, and settles disputes through Ethereum's own consensus layer rather than operating an independent validator set for the token itself.
Optimism originated at Plasma Group, a non-profit founded in January 2019 to research Ethereum scaling, which incorporated Vitalik Buterin's rollup design concepts into the Optimistic Rollup approach in mid-2019.
Founders commonly credited include Benjamin Jones, Karl Floersch, Jinglan Wang, and Kevin Ho, with Mark Tyneway and Kelvin Fichter also named as founding contributors.
Optimism today is maintained by two related entities: OP Labs PBC, which builds the OP Stack and OP Mainnet software, and the Optimism Foundation, a non-profit. Founded in April 2022, the Foundation stewards the Optimism Collective and is led by co-founders Jinglan Wang and Ben Jones alongside Eva Beylin, Abbey Titcomb, and Brian Avello.
The Optimism Collective is the broader umbrella spanning OP Labs, the Foundation, and Superchain member chains.
Optimism is governed on-chain through the bicameral Optimism Collective, made up of a token-holder Token House and an identity-based Citizens House. The Token House lets OP holders vote on Collective proposals directly or via delegation, while the Citizens House allocates Retroactive Public Goods Funding by identity rather than token weight.
In January 2026, Optimism governance approved a 12-month OP buyback pilot with 84.4% support, directing 50% of net Superchain sequencer revenue toward monthly open-market OP purchases.
A 12-month OP buyback pilot began in February 2026, funded by 50% of net Superchain sequencer revenue directed to monthly open-market OP purchases. Repurchased tokens are held in the Collective Treasury pending a future decision on burning, staking, or ecosystem-incentive use.
Superchain Upgrade 16 passed in 2026, adding interoperability-related contract changes and raising the per-block gas limit to 500 million gas. Following Base's February 2026 exit, remaining OP Stack chains include Unichain, World Chain, Zora, Mode, Ink, Soneium, Celo, and OP Mainnet.
OpenZeppelin has performed five audits of Optimism since 2022, cumulatively identifying 34 high- or critical-severity findings. Its first engagement, starting in March 2021, found critical flaws in the fraud-proof verification process that secures the rollup. Trail of Bits conducted additional audits in September and December 2022.
Liquidity risk is scored HIGH, with DEX liquidity equal to only about 0.58% of market cap. Holder concentration is elevated: the top 10 addresses hold 58% of circulating supply.