Optimism

Optimism (OP) operates as a layer-two blockchain built on Ethereum. It utilizes the robustness of the Ethereum mainnet for security while enhancing the Ethereum ecosystem's scalability through the use of optimistic rollups. This means that transactions are documented on Optimism without reliance on trust, but the ultimate security is ensured by the Ethereum network.

Optimism stands out as one of Ethereum's top scaling solutions, boasting over $500 million in Total Value Locked (TVL). It hosts 97 different protocols, with notable ones including Synthetix (SNX), a derivatives trading platform; Uniswap (UNI), a decentralized exchange; and Velodrome (VELO), an automated market maker. Users can start using Optimism by incorporating the chain into their Metamask wallet and transferring tokens like ETH to this layer-two solution. On May 31, 2022, Optimism successfully delivered an eagerly awaited airdrop of its OP token.

Optimism is operated by the Optimism Foundation, a nonprofit group committed to fostering the growth of the Optimism ecosystem. Much like Ethereum, Optimism's vision is to evolve into a fully decentralized public resource that doesn't focus on profit. It's entirely backed by donations and grants, ensuring the development of infrastructure that supports the expansion and sustainability of public goods.

Optimism is built on four foundational principles:

- Simplicity
- Pragmatism
- Sustainability
- Optimism

The project strives to create a layer-two solution for Ethereum with the least number of components. This often involves leveraging tried-and-tested Ethereum code and infrastructure whenever feasible, thereby simplifying its code and aligning closely with existing codebases.

The ecosystem also values practicality, adapting to the real-world needs and limitations of its team and users. As a result, Optimism seeks to develop iteratively, gradually introducing features like EVM equivalence.

Optimism focuses on enduring sustainability and avoids taking shortcuts for scalability. It employs optimistic rollups to maximize Ethereum's consensus mechanism for network scaling. Transactions are assembled and executed on Optimism (the L2), while batched transactions are sent to Ethereum (the L1). Without a mempool, transactions are either accepted or rejected immediately on the L2, ensuring a seamless user experience backed by Ethereum's security standards.

Transactions are posted to Ethereum without immediate proof of validity, allowing a challenge window of about seven days. After this period, transactions become final, explaining why withdrawals from Optimism to Ethereum require a week to process.

Optimism is set to develop an ecosystem where value is conferred to its three main groups:

- Token holders gain benefits through the effective reallocation of sequencer income.
- Builders and contributors receive value via retroactive public goods funding.
- Users and community members benefit from continuous airdrops and project incentives.

In essence, the demand for OP block space produces revenue, which is then funneled into public goods, further driving block space demand. Optimism’s token distribution is structured as follows:

- Ecosystem fund (25%): divided among the governance fund (5.4%), partner fund (5.4%), seed fund (5.4%), and unallocated (8.8%).
- Retroactive Public Goods Funding (20%)
- User airdrops (19%): comprising an initial airdrop of 5%, with more to follow.
- Core contributors (19%): those who help transition the Optimism Collective from idea to implementation.
- Investors (17%)

The starting token supply is 4,294,967,296 OP tokens, featuring an annual inflation rate of 2%. During the first year, 30% of the initial supply will be available for the Foundation to distribute. After the initial period, token holders will vote on the Foundation’s yearly OP distribution budget, with projected allocations as follows:

- Year 2: 15% of the original token supply
- Year 3: 10% of the original token supply
- Year 4: 4% of the original token supply

Optimism operates with optimistic rollups. These rollups can record transactions on the second layer in a trustless manner and periodically send merkle roots of these transactions to the main blockchain. These merkle roots are verified by external validators, which typically results in a week-long delay when withdrawing funds from layer-two systems that use optimistic rollups.

OP tokens can be purchased on platforms such as Binance, Huobi, KuCoin, Gate.io, Bybit, and Coinbase.