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5.4 Billion Tokens Airdrop Set to Be Confiscated? Governance Proposal Vote Triggers Internal Strife

Foresight News

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The proposal currently has approximately 9.105 million VOTE FOR tokens and about 4.258 million VOTE AGAINST tokens.

Original Title: "Is the Airdrop of 540 Million Tokens About to Be Confiscated? OP Governance Vote Leads to Infighting"
Original Author: Mach, Foresight News

In early August, the Optimism Foundation officially submitted a proposal at a governance forum, planning to reclassify the remaining 5.469 billion OP tokens in the user airdrop allocation as a "Strategic Ecosystem Fund." Due to its potential impact on token holders' expectations for future airdrops, this proposal requires a vote for approval. The vote was launched on August 14 at 12:07 Beijing time and will end on August 20.

As of the latest on-chain data, approximately 9.105 million OP tokens have voted in support, while about 4.258 million OP tokens have voted against. The quorum requirement is around 16.54 million OP tokens, and the current participation level falls significantly short of the quorum. The final results of the vote are yet to be determined, and community dynamics are still ongoing.

OP Buyback Suspended After May This Year

The initial total supply of OP tokens was around 42.95 billion. 19% of this (approximately 8.16 billion tokens) was explicitly earmarked for the user airdrop. Although this arrangement is not a formal legal obligation, the Optimism team has consistently reaffirmed it in public communications over the years, including mentioning around 5.5 billion tokens available for future airdrops during the Airdrop 5 distribution in October 2024.

The actual execution shows that between 2022 and 2024, a total of five airdrop rounds were completed, distributing approximately 2.691 billion OP tokens, accounting for around 33% of the total reserved amount. The first round had the highest percentage, with subsequent rounds seeing continuous adjustments in criteria, transitioning from early usage and gas consumption to delegated governance, OP mainnet activity, NFT creators, and Superchain events.

In the fourth year (May 2025 to April 2026), there were no new airdrops, and the official focus shifted explicitly to "targeted growth programs with measurably retained and revenue outcomes."

On-chain data also indicates that Optimism has not conducted the OP token buybacks as planned since May. After completing the second and third monthly community buybacks in March and April, the team unilaterally halted further buyback plans. In March, they spent 367.905 ETH to buy back 6,951,453 OP tokens, and in April, they spent 50.16 ETH to repurchase 925,654 OP tokens. As of now, the cumulative repurchased OP token quantity stands at 9,451,924 OP tokens. Based on the latest price of $0.08 per token, this is approximately worth $756,200.

The foundation has stated that it will reevaluate after the 12-month period, with no commitment to long-term sustainability.

Meanwhile, the overall investment in Year Four has decreased by about 35% compared to Year Three. Governance Fund's new circulation has decreased by 53% year-on-year, Retro Funding (a public goods funding mechanism that rewards OP based on actual contributions) expenses have decreased by 30%, and airdrops have been zeroed out. The foundation has concurrently released an update on Year Four's budget and Year Five's outlook, expecting an additional circulation of about 273 million OP in Year Five (excluding the airdrop quota that may be reallocated this time), with the Eco Fund expected to contribute about 200 million OP.

According to DefiLlama data, the total TVL has plummeted from its peak of $5.5 billion to $526 million.

Strategic Shift to Enterprise Growth

The cryptocurrency market's Layer 2 network is currently facing issues such as user churn and a lack of innovation. According to Token Terminal's latest data, the core developers have now decreased to 42, down from 144 at the peak by the end of 2024.

Currently, Optimism is shifting focus to the enterprise market, including fintech, trading platforms, payment institutions, and traditional financial institutions, with existing partnerships such as Bitpanda, Ink, and Dunamu.

Specifically, the proposal demands:

· Creation of a new allocation category, the "Strategic Eco Fund";

· Reallocating the remaining 546.9 million OP from the user airdrop category to this fund;

· Use cases include facilitating collaborative transactions for chains, protocols, institutions, and infrastructure to join the OP Stack, deepening incentive activities and liquidity on the OP Mainnet, and expanding partnerships with top-tier brands and institutions.

The airdrops from Rounds 1 to 5 that have already been distributed will not be affected. If the proposal is approved, the foundation will update the token distribution document and public accounting records, while continuing the existing grant oversight and annual budget reporting mechanisms. The Year Five budget outlook itself assumes zero airdrop allocation and specifies that this outlook is independent of this reallocation proposal.

Upon official initiation of the proposal, early voting initially leaned towards support. As community discussions intensify, opposition voices quickly rise. The main criticisms focus on three points: the share originally reserved for users being reallocated as foundation-led enterprise growth funds, the official leveraging of chip recovery under the guise of DAO governance; and after airdrops and Retro Funding were zeroed out, the incentive path for regular users further narrowed.

Among them, the attitude shift of the whale olimpio.eth, a long-term participant in Optimism governance, has attracted attention. The account previously maintained a high level of participation in over 120 governance votes, and its voting record shows 2,165,459 tokens in opposition, considered by the community to be its first dissenting vote since participating in Optimism governance. Some community members criticized

The repeated calls for "reserving the right to future airdrops" in community discussions, while some believe that even if the proposal is not passed, the official team currently has no new airdrop plans, so the actual impact is limited.

If the proposal is ultimately passed, Optimism's token distribution structure will formally shift from a "user airdrop + ecosystem incentive" dual track to further favoring corporate and institutional growth. This aligns with its OP Enterprise product line, Superchain expansion, and overall trend towards expenditure discipline. For token holders, in the short term, this may reinforce the expectation of "growth over widespread distribution," and the token price may face greater pressure.

There is still about two days left before the voting deadline, so the final result may still be uncertain. As of the time of writing, market data shows that the current market capitalization of the Optimism (OP) token is approximately $185 million, with the token price fluctuating around $0.08, and the FDV is $348 million.