The Optimism Foundation has fundamentally modified the dynamics of the layer 2 OP token, proposing to allocate 50% of its superchain revenue to regular repurchases of the asset.
Optimism Grants council member Michael Vander Meiden shared the proposal Thursday
The proposal was originally submitted to the Optimism Governance Forum on Wednesday. It lays out a plan to funnel 50% of incoming Superchain revenue into monthly Optimism (OP) buybacks, which can flow back into the token treasury.
“These tokens can then be burned or distributed as staking rewards because the platform evolves. Governance maintains control over parameters that control buybacks and token inventory,” the Optimism Foundation said.
OP buyback proposal. Source: Optimism
Optimism wants to extend the utility of OP beyond governance
The move is a component of a push to expand OP's utility beyond primary governance into something “closely linked to the expansion of the superchain” and will provide a serious boost to OP holders and farmers throughout the ecosystem.
“As the Superchain evolves, the token may tackle additional functions aligned with the long-term decentralization and resilience of the network, including roles in securing shared infrastructure, coordinating sequencer rotation, and enabling collective governance over core protocol functions,” the Optimism Foundation said.
The proposal highlighted the importance of putting OP into perspective to reflect Optimism's evolution from an “experiment” in Ethereum scaling to an ecosystem that hosts a significant slice of all Layer 2 activity.
“The Superchain has captured 61.4% market share in L2 fees and processes 13% of all crypto transactions, and this share continues to rise. The OP token should align with this momentum and growth,” the team said.
Launched back in February 2023, Optimism's Superchain consists of a network of Layer 2 (L2) chains built using the project's open source OP stack. The ecosystem is home to chains resembling Unichain, Ink and Coinbase’s L2 Base.
The OP token had a difficult 2025, its price fell by almost 83%. The price has not yet recovered this week on news of the proposal.
