What is Optimism?

What is Optimism?

Optimism is an Ethereum Layer-2 with an innovative, community-first approach to growing and developing the Ethereum landscape. It works using an “Optimistic Rollup” approach, which approves transactions ahead of time and only checks for misuse when a problem is reported. 

Ryan Wyatt, former President of Polygon Labs and Managing Director of YouTube Gaming, is the main figure of the Optimism development team, acting as Chief Growth Officer. Under his guidance, Optimism has reworked its ecosystem to be more open, more transparent and more collaborative, making it easier for developers and users to build and scale on Ethereum.

Optimism’s ultimate goal is to create a “Superchain,” a unified network of multiple chains that work together seamlessly.

In order to do so, Optimism has deployed the ‘OP Stack’, a modular and adaptable framework that lets developers create their own blockchains that can connect and communicate to one other, boosting both scalability and cross-collaboration.

Big-name projects such as Worldcoin’s World Chain, the Base blockchain, and Igloo Inc.’s Abstract Blockchain are all powered by OP Stack.

How Optimism Works

At the core of Optimism lies $OP, the native token of the Optimism ecosystem that sits at the center of its governance and operation.

$OP holders have a direct say in how the network is run, can suggest improvements to the protocols, and vote on upcoming changes. This decentralized model makes sure that the community plays a vital role in how the network evolves over time.

Optimism’s governance is managed by the Optimism Collective, with two main bodies: the Token House and the Citizens’ House.

The Token House is responsible for protocol upgrades, treasury approvals, and other key decisions. $OP holders can vote on these decisions, or give their voting power to someone else if they prefer.  

The Citizens’ House is an experimental governance model that focuses on retroactive public goods funding. Its purpose is to reward projects and efforts that help the Ethereum ecosystem grow and scale, and that are done with the common good in mind. 

Looking forward, Optimism’s 2024 roadmap reveals a number of features focused on an interconnected future. 

These include the Superchain Registry, which lets developers view the users, configurations, and codes of each blockchain within the Superchain. Blockspace Charters aims to improve governance, detailing upgrades for every chain controlled by the Optimism Collective. Following the Stage 1.5 release, more transactions will be validated autonomously, reducing the need for human interaction.

The History of Optimism

In October 2019, the Optimism team released their first research paper, outlining the idea for and potential of Optimistic Rollups. The initial version of the Optimistic Ethereum testnet was launched in June 2020, which allowed budding developers to experiment with the technology.

The $OP token was introduced via an airdrop in May 2022, with 5% of the total supply distributed to qualifying users. Further airdrops are on the horizon too, with 19% of the total supply set aside for this purpose.

Optimism underwent a major mainnet update in December 2022, enabling the blockchain to verify transactions without permission, making operations both more secure and more decentralized.

In 2023, Optimism teamed up with several major blockchain projects. These include Circle, introducing USDC to Optimism, Coinbase, in creating the BASE network, Binance launching the opBNB Layer-2 blockchain, and Clearpool, a decentralized finance (DeFi) credit marketplace, expanding to Optimism’s OP Mainnet 

The team continues to improve its Optimistic Rollup technology over time, making transactions both more reliable and cheaper to execute.

Optimism is emerging as a key player in the future of Ethereum.With its robust technology, decentralized governance model, a vibrant community, and Superchain goal, Optimism is set to create the foundations for Ethereum’s long-term viability, adoption, and success.

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