Optimism proposes using half of Superchain revenue for OP buybacks

The Optimism Foundation has proposed directing 50% of incoming Superchain revenue to buy Optimism (OP) tokens, the foundation said in a Jan. 8 blog post. The program would launch in February if a Jan. 22 governance vote approves the plan. The Superchain is a network of layer-2 chains built with the OP Stack, including Base, OP Mainnet, Unichain, World Chain, Ink, Soneium and others.

Under existing agreements each chain returns a share of sequencer revenue to Optimism; over the past 12 months that revenue totaled 5,868 ETH and has flowed into a governance-controlled treasury. The proposal would use half of new monthly revenue to buy OP tokens over a 12-month pilot while the other half would fund Foundation operations and ecosystem growth.

Purchases are expected to be executed to limit market disruption and bought tokens would return to the Collective’s treasury for future governance use. Governance would decide what happens next with the tokens, with options cited including burning them, allocating them to staking programs, or using them for other ecosystem incentives.

The Foundation described the buybacks as an early step toward shifting OP from a purely governance token, noting the Superchain now accounts for more than 60% of layer-2 fee market share and processes about 13% of total on-chain transactions. Discussion is ongoing in Optimism’s governance forum, a community call is scheduled for Jan.

Key Topics

Crypto, Optimism Foundation, Op Token, Superchain, Op Stack, Governance Vote