The governance of the Optimism blockchain has approved a proposal to allocate half of all Superchain revenue to buy back the network’s token over the next year, starting in February. According to Cointelegraph, the proposal was initially submitted by the Optimism Foundation on January 8, aiming to enhance the utility of the Optimism (OP) token and align it with the success of the Superchain, a network of unified blockchains. The voting period concluded on Thursday, with the Optimism governance community passing the proposal with a 33.27% vote in favor, 3.23% against, and 3.95% abstaining.
Up until the vote, all Superchain revenue was allocated to a treasury overseen by the Optimism governance community. Optimism’s Superchain comprises a network of layer-2 (L2) chains built using the project's open-source OP stack, including Sony’s Soneium, Unichain, Ink, and Coinbase’s Base. It generates income in Ether (ETH) through sequencer revenue contributed by these L2s. As part of the proposal, Optimism will collaborate with an over-the-counter provider to execute monthly conversions of Ether (ETH) to OP, with the funds held in the treasury alongside other remaining ETH.
The Optimism Foundation stated in its proposal that, based on last year’s Superchain revenue, a similar allocation would have seen around 2,700 ETH used for buybacks, or roughly $8 million in OP at current prices. The accumulated OP could be utilized for various purposes, including token burning, funding ecosystem expansion, and rewarding participants who help secure the network. Optimism Foundation executive director Bobby Dresser expressed that the approval marks an “exciting first step in expanding the role of the OP token” and the program “will help align the OP token’s value with the success of the Superchain ecosystem.” Despite the significant changes to the OP token dynamics, its price has yet to respond positively, with OP down 1.9% over the past 24 hours, trading at $0.26, according to CoinGecko data.