The Optimism Foundation has floated a major shakeup to the dynamics of the layer 2’s OP token, proposing to allocate 50% of its Superchain revenue to regular buybacks of the asset.
Optimism Grants council member Michael Vander Meiden shared the proposal via X on Thursday, highlighting that “after many years of being a ‘useless gov token’ the value of the OP token will finally be tied to network activity.”
The proposal was initially submitted in the Optimism governance forum on Wednesday. It outlines a plan to direct 50% of incoming Superchain revenue to monthly Optimism (OP) buybacks that will flow back into the token treasury.
“These tokens can then be burned or distributed as staking rewards as the platform evolves. Governance will retain oversight over parameters that control the buyback and the token treasury,” the Optimism Foundation said.
Optimism wants to grow OP utility beyond governance
The move is part of a push to expand OP utility beyond primarily governance into something that is “tightly aligned with the growth of the Superchain,” and could provide a major boost to OP holders and builders within the ecosystem.
“As the Superchain evolves, the token may take on additional functionality aligned with the network’s long-term decentralization and resilience, including roles in securing shared infrastructure, coordinating sequencer rotation, and enabling collective governance over core protocol functions,” the Optimism Foundation said.
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The proposal outlined the importance of relativizing OP to reflect the growth of Optimism from being an “experiment” in Ethereum scaling to an ecosystem hosting a significant amount of total layer 2 activity.
“The Superchain captured 61.4% L2 fee market share and processes 13% of all crypto transactions, and that share continues to rise. The OP token should be aligned with that momentum and growth,” the team said.
Optimism’s Superchain was launched back in February 2023 and consists of a network of layer-2 (L2) chains built with the project’s open-source OP stack. The ecosystem hosts chains such as Unichain, Ink and Coinbase’s L2 Base.
The OP token had a tough 2025, with its price declining by nearly 83%. The price has yet to bounce this week on the news of the proposal.
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