Ethereum Layer-2 scaling network Optimism is setting aside $3.3 billion worth of Optimism (OP) tokens to grant to projects or individuals believed to make significant contributions to the blockchain ecosystem. On March 26, the governance and community arm of the ecosystem, Optimism Collective, announced that a portion of the 850 million OP will be distributed in four categorized rounds starting in May and continuing through 2024.
Optimism Team Takes Notable Step
Optimism Foundation Chief Operating Officer Bobby Dresser stated that 850 million OP tokens, equivalent to 20% of the total token supply, have been allocated for funding, with approximately $158 million worth of 40 million OP tokens to be distributed in the past three rounds.
Developers on-chain will initiate the fourth round of retroactive public goods funding (RPGF), or retro funding, and a portion of the community will vote on which projects receive tokens if they are deemed valuable.
From the fifth to the seventh round, those contributing to infrastructure, governance, and development tools will be rewarded, and “everyone working everywhere to improve Optimism” can benefit from the funds. The final round will be completed in mid-November.
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Public goods service projects in crypto are individuals who donate to a blockchain or crypto community for free, and retro funding aims to reward these individuals for their proven contributions. Retro funding emerges as a source of funds for such contributors who typically cannot raise capital through other means like venture capital because their contributions are not expected to yield a financial return.
In the latest funding round in January, hundreds of individuals, data collectors DefiLlama and L2Beat, token approval cancellation tool Revoke cash, and blockchain detective ZachXBT were awarded a share of the proposed 30 million OP tokens. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his admiration for Optimism’s commitment to public goods funding after the round and shared the following statement:
“We hope to see more projects doing QF and RPGF rounds in the future.”
