Optimism’s governance has approved a proposal to redirect 546.9 million OP tokens, previously earmarked for future airdrops, into a new Strategic Ecosystem Fund. The move aims to accelerate institutional adoption and enhance liquidity on OP Mainnet, the Ethereum scaling solution developed by the project.
The fund will target partnerships with blockchain networks, protocols, and institutions, alongside incentives to boost activity on OP Mainnet and OP Enterprise. The decision follows five airdrop rounds totaling 269.1 million OP tokens, with Optimism stating no additional airdrops are planned.
Criticism has emerged from some delegates who argue the tokens were promised to users and question the foundation’s ability to measure returns from the fund. Proponents counter that the allocation better positions Optimism to compete for enterprise deals and scale growth.
At current prices, the 546.9 million OP allocation is valued at approximately $50 million, representing nearly a quarter of the token’s $211 million market capitalization. OP traded around $0.09 on Thursday, up roughly 11% over the prior 24 hours amid a broader crypto market rally, though the token remains more than 93% below its record high.
Optimism, the developer behind OP Mainnet and the OP Stack framework, supports over 30 chains that contribute revenue to the project. The framework is used by networks including Base, Unichain, Kraken’s Ink, and Sony’s Soneium. In July, Optimism signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s Viva Republica, operator of the Toss mobile payments app, to explore a won-based stablecoin infrastructure for institutional payments in a three-month proof-of-concept.
