Optimism allocates $3 billion in OP tokens to its blockchain developers and projects

Ethereum layer 2 network Optimism is set to allocate 850 million OP tokens, valued at roughly $3 billion, to its builders, as shared by Optimism in a recent post on X. The tokens represent 20% of Optimism’s initial total supply and will be distributed across four funding rounds scheduled throughout 2024.

Today we’re introducing a new era of clarity for Retro Funding!

The Collective has allocated a total of 850M OP to incentivize impactful work across the @Optimism Collective and the Superchain. pic.twitter.com/DfMeLLogQi

— Optimism (@Optimism) March 26, 2024

According to Optimism, the first funding round, targeting on-chain builders, is designed to encourage the adoption of Optimism. Subsequent rounds will focus on OP Stack, Governance, and Dev Tooling, rewarding those who contribute to infrastructure, governance, and development tools. The final round is slated to conclude in mid-November this year.

So, what exactly does this change entail? Retro Funding will now operate through specifically targeted, and categorized rounds.

Know what impact is rewarded, and when👇 pic.twitter.com/GudIY7uFfb

— Optimism (@Optimism) March 26, 2024

Optimism’s funding initiative aims to empower anyone, anywhere, who dedicates their efforts to improving the protocol’s infrastructure. This includes supporting both individual developers and projects instrumental in Optimism’s advancement.

This funding strategy is part of the Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RPGF) program, which is among the most significant in the crypto space. It aims to reward individuals and organizations that have made meaningful contributions to Optimism in various domains, including OP Stack, Administration, Ecosystem, and User Experience and Adoption.

In the most recent funding round in January 2024, Optimism distributed a portion of its 30 million OP tokens to hundreds of developers, including data aggregators DeFiLlama and Covalent.

Previously, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin applauded Optimism’s dedication to community-driven product funding. Impressed by their approach, Buterin anticipates more projects adopting Quadratic Funding (QF) and RPGF in the future.

Over $100m distributed in @Optimism RetroPGF round 3.

Really impressed to see their ongoing commitment to funding public goods, helping devs and others contribute to Ethereum even if they lack a business model.

Hope to see more projects doing QF and RPGF rounds in the future! pic.twitter.com/JFGB1MNDDS

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 11, 2024