Author: Foresight News
540 million tokens airdrop about to be seized? OP governance vote descends into civil war
In early August, the Optimism Foundation formally submitted a proposal on its governance forum to reallocate the remaining 546.9 million OP from user airdrops to a "Strategic Ecosystem Fund," as this may materially impact token holders' expectations for future airdrops and requires voter approval. Voting began on August 14 at 00:00 Beijing Time and will end on August 20 at 12:07.
As of the latest on-chain data, support votes total approximately 9.105 million OP, while opposition votes amount to approximately 4.258 million OP. The quorum requirement is approximately 16.54 million OP, and current participation remains significantly below the threshold. The voting outcome has not yet been finalized, and community deliberation continues.
Suspend OP buybacks after May this year.
The initial total supply of OP is approximately 4.295 billion tokens. Of this, 19% (approximately 816 million tokens) has been explicitly reserved for user airdrops. While not a formal legal obligation, the Optimism team has repeatedly confirmed this allocation in public communications over the years, including as recently as the Airdrop 5 distribution in October 2024, when they noted that approximately 550 million tokens remain available for future airdrops.
Actual implementation shows that five airdrops were completed between 2022 and 2024, distributing approximately 269.1 million OP tokens, accounting for about 33% of the reserved total. The first round had the highest share, and subsequent rounds continuously adjusted criteria, shifting from early metrics like gas consumption to governance delegation, OP mainnet activity, NFT creators, and Superchain activities.
The fourth year (May 2025 to April 2026) has no new airdrops; the official focus has shifted clearly to targeted growth initiatives measuring retention and revenue outcomes.
On-chain data also shows that Optimism has not executed OP buybacks as originally planned since May. After completing the second and third monthly community buybacks (in March and April), the team unilaterally halted all subsequent buyback plans. In March, they spent 367.905 ETH to buy back 6,951,453 OP, and in April, they spent 50.16 ETH to buy back 925,654 OP. To date, the total accumulated OP buybacks amount to 9,451,924 OP, which, at the latest price of $0.08, is worth approximately $756,200.
The foundation stated it will reassess after the 12-month period ends and does not commit to long-term continuation.
Meanwhile, the overall OP allocation in the fourth year decreased by approximately 35% compared to the third year. The new circulating supply of the governance fund decreased by 53% year-over-year, Retro Funding (a public goods funding mechanism where OP rewards are distributed based on actual contributions) expenditures dropped by 30%, and airdrops were eliminated. The foundation simultaneously released an updated budget for the fourth year and a forecast for the fifth year, projecting approximately 273 million new OP tokens in circulation during the fifth year (excluding any potential reallocation of airdrop allocations), with an estimated 200 million OP allocated to the ecosystem fund.
According to DefiLlama data, its total TVL has dropped significantly from a peak of $5.5 billion to $526 million.
Strategic shift toward enterprise growth
The Layer 2 networks of the crypto market are currently facing issues such as user attrition and lack of innovation. According to the latest data from Token Terminal, the number of core developers has decreased to 42, down from a peak of 144 at the end of 2024.
Optimism is currently expanding into the enterprise market, including fintech, trading platforms, payment institutions, and traditional financial institutions, with existing partnerships including Bitpanda, Ink, and Dunamu.
Specifically, the proposal requires:
· Create a new allocation category: "Strategic Ecosystem Fund";
· Reallocate the remaining 546.9 million OP from the user airdrop category to this fund;
· Uses include facilitating collaborations between chains, protocols, institutions, and infrastructure to join the OP Stack, incentivizing on-chain activity and liquidity on OP Mainnet, and expanding partnerships with top brands and institutions.
Airdrops from rounds 1 to 5 remain unaffected. If the proposal passes, the foundation will update the token allocation documentation and public accounting records, while continuing to use the existing grant oversight and annual budget reporting mechanisms. The fifth-year budget outlook already assumes zero airdrop expenditure and explicitly states that this outlook is independent of this reallocation proposal.
After the proposal was initiated by the official team, early voting initially favored support. As community discussions intensified, opposition quickly rose. Major criticisms centered on three points: the originally allocated user share was redirected toward corporate growth funding controlled by the foundation, with the official team using DAO governance as a pretext to reclaim tokens; following the nullification of the airdrop and Retro Funding, incentives for ordinary users have further narrowed.
Among them, the shift in stance by olimpio.eth, a whale in the airdrop space with long-term participation in Optimism governance, has drawn attention. This account previously maintained high engagement in over 120 governance votes, and its voting record shows 2,165,459 opposing votes—considered its first opposing vote since participating in Optimism governance. Some participants have criticized
In community discussions, there is a recurring call to "retain future airdrop rights," while some argue that even if the proposal fails, the official team currently has no new airdrop plans, making the actual impact limited.
If the proposal is ultimately approved, Optimism’s token allocation structure will formally shift further toward enterprise and institutional growth, moving beyond its current dual model of user airdrops and ecosystem incentives. This aligns with its OP Enterprise product line, Superchain expansion, and broader trend toward disciplined spending. For token holders, this may reinforce short-term expectations that growth takes precedence over broad distribution, potentially putting downward pressure on the token price.
There are still approximately two days remaining before voting closes, and the final outcome may still be uncertain. As of the time of writing, market data shows that the current market capitalization of the Optimism (OP) token is approximately $185 million, with the token price fluctuating around $0.08, and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $348 million.
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