OP Token Buybacks
TLDR: The Optimism Foundation is putting forward a proposal to align the OP token with the Superchain’s success by using 50% of incoming Superchain revenue to buy back OP tokens, starting in February.
Optimism’s next chapter
Over the past five years, the OP Stack has moved from an experiment in scaling Ethereum to the default infrastructure for serious builders. Exchanges, enterprises, and blue-chip institutions are standardizing on the Superchain because it provides the security, scalability, and economic clarity required to support the most liquid markets in the world. The Superchain captured 61.4% L2 fee market share and processes 13% of all crypto transactions, and that share continues to rise.
The OP token should be aligned with that momentum and growth.
Evolving the role of the OP token
Optimism earns revenue from the Superchain, a network of L2 chains built on the OP Stack that includes Base, Unichain, Ink, World Chain, Soneium, OP Mainnet, and more. These chains all contribute a portion of their sequencer revenue back to Optimism. In the past twelve months, Optimism has collected 5,868 ETH in revenue, 100% of which has been dedicated to a treasury overseen by Optimism governance. As the Superchain expands, so does this treasury.
Today, the Optimism Foundation is excited to introduce a proposal to use 50% of incoming Superchain revenue to buy OP tokens. The more demand there is across the Superchain, the more this demand benefits OP.
With this buyback mechanism, OP transitions from a pure governance token to a token that is tightly aligned with the growth of the Superchain. This mechanism will start small and grow as Optimism grows. Every enterprise creating a new chain on the Superchain grows underlying demand. Every builder choosing OP Mainnet accelerates the flywheel. Every transaction across every chain in the Superchain expands the base from which buybacks operate.
This marks a first step in expanding the role of the OP token beyond its current uses. As the Superchain evolves, the token may take on additional functionality aligned with the network’s long-term decentralization and resilience, including roles in securing shared infrastructure, coordinating sequencer rotation, and enabling collective governance over core protocol functions. Establishing this initial utility creates a foundation for further evolution of the token’s role.
How the buyback works
This proposal recommends directing 50% of incoming Superchain revenue to buy OP tokens on a monthly basis for the next year. OP tokens bought through this program will flow back into the token treasury. These tokens can then be burned or distributed as staking rewards as the platform evolves. Governance will retain oversight over parameters that control the buyback and the token treasury.
This proposal would also allow the Optimism Foundation to directly manage any ETH revenue not directed to buybacks. In addition to the current staking program approved by governance, this will allow for more active treasury management aimed at growing the shared economies of the Superchain.
Aligning Incentives
The Superchain is powered by a flywheel where usage generates revenue, revenue funds development, and development drives more usage. By directing a portion of that revenue to align OP with Superchain growth, the Collective ensures that users, developers, infrastructure providers, and tokenholders are all reinforcing and contributing to the same system. OP becomes the shared reference point: as activity grows, more resources flow back into building, securing, and expanding the Superchain.
Next steps
The OP Stack is becoming the settlement layer for the next generation of financial systems. With this proposal, the OP token will capture value alongside the Superchain’s growth.
The governance proposal will move to vote on January 22. If approved, the buyback program will begin in February.