Ethereum’s Layer 2 Solution Optimism Airdrops Tokens to 231k Wallets

Optimism’s native token OP, an Ethereum Layer 2 Solution, airdrops token to selected wallets. It has been listed on exchanges like Kucoin, OKX, and MEXC, but withdrawals are still restricted until June 2nd.

Optimism (OP) is an Ethereum Virtual Machine EVM-compatible blockchain built as an alternative to the Ethereum network, with scalable protocols and optimistic rollups. The creation of Optimism was necessitated by the slow rate of Ethereum transactions and low latency on the network. It has proven to serve as a cheaper and faster Layer 2 network while still leveraging Ethereum Network’s security.

The functionality of Optimism is based mainly on the development of optimistic rollups, which are regarded as scaling layers that aggregate transactions above the basic Ethereum layer. The idea is that the cost of transacting can be reduced by aggregating transactions, which are ultimately settled on the Ethereum blockchain.

Optimism had raised $150 million in a Series B funding in March, co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Paradigm, with the project valued at $1.65 billion.

OP Governance And Tokenomics

Currently, Optimism has a new governance system that “aims to avoid governance pitfalls experienced by other models on Ethereum today” called Optimism Collective, which is made up of two hubs — Token and Citizen house. OP was introduced as the incentive token for Citizen house, which is in charge of protocol upgrades, project incentives, and network algorithms. Citizen house serves to distribute retrospective public goods from the fees generated by the network.

The token supply of OP is approximately 4.3M. However, only 225,485,783 OP will be part of the initial circulating supply as the other distribution supplies have been drafted. According to Optimism’s airdrop whitepaper, the first airdrop is intended to reward users who have been “instrumental as early adopters and active users of projects in the Optimism ecosystem.”

In total, 248,699 addresses are eligible to claim Optimism’s OP tokens in this initial airdrop, according to the white paper, but a tweet on May 23rd found 17,000 wallets called “Sybils” ineligible for the token airdrops as they were tagged suspicious, thereby reducing the total to 231,000. The total supply of OP will be 4,294,967,296 tokens, which are distributed in the following categories

• 20% would be used for retroactive public goods funding and investments.
• 25% would be reserved for ecosystem funding, including governance, partner, seed rounds, and reserved funds.
• 19% was airdropped to eligible Optimism users and selected Ethereum wallets.
• 17% and 19% will be given to investors and core contributors.

However, Investors and core contributors are subject to more extended lockup periods for on-chain yields. Most of their tokens will be locked for at least two years, while community-held coins can be sold in the secondary market within the first year.

Exchanges List Optimism Token (OP)

Many major exchanges front-run the launch of Optimism and list them on their exchanges while scheduling withdrawal dates. OP has also been listed for spot trading as it meets the standard required for transactions.

OKX, a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange firm that trades both spot and derivative, listed OP on its exchange on Tuesday, May 31st. Withdrawals are scheduled to resume tomorrow, June 2nd, by 10:00 am UTC.

Another exchange that followed suit in this listing is Kucoin which started allowing deposits yesterday, May 31st, by 14:30 (UTC), Spot Trading by the evening of the same day, but withdrawals resume by 10:00 am on June 2nd, 2022 (UTC)

Other exchanges that listed OP are MEXC Global (MEXC), Atom Asset Exchange (AAX), and LBank Exchange (LBank). Though it is speculated that Binance and Gemini would also list the token, they have not made any announcements to verify the claim.

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