2024-03-27
Optimism, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network, has set aside $3.3 billion worth of its Optimism (OP) token to fund public goods in the blockchain ecosystem. The Optimism Collective, the chain's governance and community arm, announced that the 850 million OP tokens would be distributed over four rounds, starting in May and continuing until 2024.
The allocation of funds for public goods is part of Optimism's effort to support projects and individuals who contribute to the development and growth of the blockchain ecosystem. The Optimism Foundation has earmarked 20% of the initial OP token supply, equivalent to 850 million tokens, for funding purposes. In the previous three rounds, 40 million OP tokens, valued at approximately $158 million, were already distributed.
The fourth round of funding, called retroactive public goods funding (RPGF) or retro funding, will be awarded to on-chain builders based on community votes. Projects that have demonstrated value to the ecosystem will receive tokens as a reward. The following rounds, from five to seven, will focus on rewarding infrastructure, governance, and development tooling contributors. Anyone who contributes to improving Optimism will be eligible for funding during these rounds. The final round will conclude in mid-November.
Public goods in the crypto space refer to services or contributions provided to the blockchain or crypto community without charge. Retro funding aims to recognize and reward these contributors, who often struggle to raise capital through traditional means like venture capital as their work is not profit-oriented.
In the previous funding round held in January, various projects and individuals received a portion of the 30 million OP tokens available. Recipients included data aggregators DefiLlama and L2Beat, token approval revoking tool Revoke.cash, and blockchain researcher ZachXBT, among many others.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his admiration for Optimism's commitment to public goods funding in a post, stating that he was "really impressed" by their initiative.
VitalikButerin Tweet on Twitter (X)
By allocating a significant portion of its token supply for public goods funding, Optimism aims to support and incentivize contributions that enhance the Ethereum ecosystem and promote its continued growth and development.
