Optimism Community Approves Proposal to Buyback OP Tokens

The governance backing the Optimism blockchain has approved a proposal to allocate 50% of all Superchain revenue to buy back the network’s token over the next 12 months, starting in February.

The proposal was initially submitted by the Optimism Foundation on Jan. 8 as part of a push to expand the utility of the Optimism (OP) token and align it with the success of the Superchain, a network of unified blockchains. 

The voting period ended on Thursday, with the Optimism governance community passing the proposal by 33.27% in favor, 3.23% against, and 3.95% abstaining.

Up until the vote, 100% of Superchain revenue was allocated to a treasury overseen by the Optimism governance community.

Optimism’s Superchain is a network of layer-2 (L2) chains built on the project’s open-source OP stack, including Sony’s Soneium, Unichain, Ink, and Coinbase’s Base. It generates income in Ether (ETH) through sequencer revenue from these L2s. 

As part of the proposal, Optimism will partner with an over-the-counter provider to execute monthly conversions of Ether (ETH) to OP. The funds will then be held in the treasury, alongside the other remaining ETH. 

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The foundation stated in its proposal that, based on last year’s Superchain revenue, a comparable allocation would have seen around 2,700 ETH used for buybacks, or roughly $8 million in OP at current prices.

The Optimism Foundation said that the accumulated OP could be used for a wide range of purposes, including token burning, funding ecosystem expansion, and rewarding participants who help secure the network.