OP is the native token of Optimism, a Layer 2 (L2) network built on Ethereum. Optimism was developed by OP Labs, formerly known as Plasma Group, which was founded by former Ethereum developers in 2019 in New York. The project’s co-founders include Jinglan Wang (CEO), Karl Floersch, Benjamin Jones, and Kevin Ho.
Optimism’s biggest innovation is the OP Stack and the Superchain. Together, they reduce transaction costs, improve scalability, and allow developers to build customized, interoperable blockchains on Ethereum. Coinbase’s Base chain is one of the best-known examples built using the OP Stack.
Beyond scaling Ethereum, the OP ecosystem also supports Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RetroPGF). This governance initiative directs ecosystem revenue toward developers, researchers, and creators contributing to public goods.
According to CoinMarketCap, OP has a maximum supply of 4.29 billion tokens, while about 2.15 billion were circulating at the time of writing. The token follows a gradual vesting schedule, with major unlocks expected to conclude during 2026.
The circulating supply is spread across more than 1.37 million holders, while the Fully Diluted Value (FDV) stood above $437 million.
The initial allocation included 25% to the ecosystem fund, covering governance reserves, partner funds, and seed allocations, 20% to RetroPGF, 19% to user airdrops, 19% to core contributors, and 17% to investors. To strengthen long-term demand, governance later approved using 50% of Superchain sequencer revenue for monthly OP buybacks.
Before launching its token, Optimism completed four funding rounds.
The Seed round raised roughly $3.5 million in 2020, backed by IDEO CoLab and Fred Ehrsam. Series A followed in February 2021, raising $25 million, while Series B secured $150 million in March 2022. Another undisclosed funding round took place in November 2022 after the OP token began trading.
Major investors included Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Paradigm, Cynegetic Investment Management, and Nascent.
Following its transition from Plasma Group to Optimism Company, development accelerated.
The experimental optimistic rollup launched in 2020. Cannon fault proofs arrived in March 2022, while the OP Stack launched later that year.
Optimism introduced its Superchain vision in February 2023. The Bedrock upgrade followed in June, reducing transaction costs and improving network performance. Coinbase later launched Base on the OP Stack in August 2023.
Throughout 2024 and 2025, the ecosystem expanded as more projects adopted the Superchain framework.
In 2026, OP Labs introduced a buyback program that directed 50% of monthly sequencer revenue toward purchasing OP tokens. The company also introduced OP Enterprise, an enterprise deployment solution.
Looking ahead, Optimism has outlined plans around post-quantum cryptography and Account Abstraction. These initiatives aim to improve wallet security while supporting broader adoption of EIP-7702 across the Superchain.
Like many blockchain ecosystems, Optimism has experienced security incidents.
In February 2022, developers discovered the “Unbridled Optimism” bug, which could have allowed attackers to mint unlimited ETH. The issue was patched before widespread exploitation, and the team awarded a record $2 million bug bounty.
Later that year, Wintermute lost about 20 million OP tokens after an operational mistake during an over-the-counter liquidity transaction. The attacker eventually returned roughly 90% of the stolen funds.
The broader Optimism ecosystem also experienced several third-party exploits.
Hundred Finance lost around $7.4 million in April 2023. Exactly Protocol suffered a $7.3 million exploit in August 2023, while Sonne Finance lost approximately $20 million in May 2024.
During 2024, Optimism also introduced upgrades such as Granite to strengthen its fault-proof system and improve network security.
