The clamor for scalability is intensifying as crypto moves into its next phase of acceptance. These demands are often addressed by centralized layer-1 rivals, who abandon Ethereum’s security and principles in the name of low costs and fast profits.
In our pursuit of Web3 scalability, we must not replicate the incentives of Web2. Web3 provides us with the chance to reconstruct the internet according to what its users value. Denying this aim is ignoring the reason for crypto.
We are enthusiastic about our goal to expand both our technology and our beliefs together. To achieve this, we proudly present the Optimism Collective.
The Optimism Collective Introducation
The Optimism Collective is a trial of digital democratic governance on a large scale, designed to foster the rapid and lasting development of a decentralized system, overseen by the newly established Optimism Foundation.
The Collective is a coalition of citizens, companies, and communities bound together by an agreement that emphasizes the notion that impact brings forth profit. This idea is further explored in the Optimistic Vision.
Tokens and Citizens
The Optimism Collective will be jointly administered by two entities, the Citizens’ House and the Token House.
Token House
The Token House was created through Airdrop #1, bringing together the initial thousands of individuals who took part in mutually beneficial, community-oriented activities. Token owners will be able to vote on protocol improvements, provide incentives through a Governance Fund and much more. The token is called OP.
Citizens’ House
The Citizens’ House will manage a system to share out the money obtained from the network’s revenue. Membership will be granted by special, non-exchangeable NFTs and the group of citizens will expand as Optimism’s population increases. The Citizen House is a tool that makes it possible to move power away from any centralized organization, so it can be controlled in a people-oriented way without favoring those with wealth and influence.
The two houses, combined, will manage the funds acquired through Optimism L2 and allocate them to projects that benefit the public and strengthen their collective. To find out more information about this arrangement, take a look at the Governance Overview.
The Citizens’ House will be opening later in 2022–keep an eye out.
The combined efforts of the two houses of the collective will create a virtuous cycle, providing resources for public goods that improve Optimism’s blockspace and thus generate more income for public goods. For more information about the economic model of the collective, please refer to the Economics Overview.
Check out my OF
The Collective has adopted a two-chamber ruling system in an effort to avoid the same issues encountered by other Ethereum-based models. Nevertheless, we understand that there is still much to learn, and the way governance is organized at present is far from definitive.
The Optimism Foundation, a recently formed entity, will be responsible for administering the Collective and performing trials on its behalf to initiate the ecosystem. The organization formerly known as Optimism PBC is now named OP Labs PBC and will concentrate on decentralizing the protocol, along with aiding projects in the environment with business and product progress. Finally, after all this is done, it will dissolve.
The Optimism Foundation is a fundamental part of transferring authority from Optimism PBC to the larger Optimistic environment. As it advances, the Foundation will gradually hand over its governing responsibilities to the Optimistic Ecosystem. To learn more about these systems, take a look at the Operating Constitution of the Optimism Collective.
The Optimism Foundation is a new organization focused on governance experimentation and ecosystem growth. The Optimism Foundation will be led by two of the founders of Optimism, Jing (formerly CEO) and Ben Jones (formerly Chief Scientist). Joining us are some new faces: Eva Beylin, Executive Director of The Graph Foundation, Abbey Titcomb, Council Member of the Radicle Foundation, and Brian Avello, former General Counsel to the Maker Foundation.
Liam Horne, formerly Head of Engineering at the PBC, is stepping into a new role as the CEO of OP Labs PBC, with continued support from Karl Floersch, Josh Stein, Julien Boedec, Bobby Dresser, and the PBC’s new General Counsel, Trevor Dodge.
OP Introduction
OP oversees improvements to the protocol and network settings, as well as establishes a continuous system of rewards for projects and participants in the Optimism environment.
The Optimism Collective is aiming for a dynamic governance system, and to that end we are taking an iterative approach. As opposed to a static genesis allocation, we are implementing an alternate strategy.
OP will not have one airdrop, but instead will have an entire period of airdrops. The first OP Airdrop goes live in the second quarter and Ethereum users (not just Optimism users) can check here to find out what’s available.
For more than 250,000 addresses, airdrop season is here. However, if you don’t fall into that category, don’t worry! There are plenty of other opportunities coming in the weeks ahead. Here’s what you should know about OP right now.
Staying safe
OP is an L2-native token which resides on Optimism at the easy-to-remember address 0x420000000000000000000042.
Token Distribution
The total initial supply of OP is 2^32 (4,294,967,296) tokens.
OP is broken down into the following categories:
The Optimism Foundation and the members of the Optimism Collective will work together to govern optimism. The OF will manage the Ecosystem Fund, as well as facilitate retroactive public goods and airdrop handouts.
As the Citizen and Token Houses evolve through repeated governance tests, these duties will move from the OF to the wider Optimistic system. Watch out for further information on OP Governance next week.
OP token will unlock over the course of 4 years as follows:
For more details, you can check out the OP Allocations Overview in our governance documentation.
OP Airdrop #1
To check your eligibility for OP Airdrop #1, you can head here.
For Airdrop #1, we’re allocating 5% of the initial OP supply for the following actions:
In addition to these tiers, we’re excited to announce the OP Overlap Bonus–an added reward for users which have accomplished 4 or more of the above actions.
- 4 Tiers – 3,329.57 OP
- 5 Tiers – 10,313.82 OP
- 6 Tiers – 20,975.42 OP
If you’re interested in diving into the details of airdrop methodology and criteria, check out the docs here.
What’s Next
Starting today, Optimism begins its transformation into the Optimism Collective.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing a series of posts regarding governance, incentives, and iteration, to provide the community with every detail.
In the meantime, bridge your ETH ahead of our next chapter and get ready. Even if you don’t qualify for Airdrop #1, with more airdrops and governance on the way, there’s never been a better time to use Optimism.
This is a historic milestone for both Optimism and the L2 ecosystem at large, and we couldn’t be more excited to share it with the world.
