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- Governance will eventually be split between two co-equal branches, according to a constitution<\/li>\n
- An initial retroactive airdrop will be the first of many seeking to coordinate network participants<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Optimism \u2014 an Ethereum layer-2 solution featuring optimistic rollups<\/a> \u2014 is planning to decentralize its governance through the release of a token.<\/p>\n
The network detailed the token launch, OP, in a blog post<\/a> this week. While not the first layer-2 to launch a token, the mechanism of distributing it and the overall governance structure is novel in that it envisions a bicameral system of co-equal \u201chouses\u201d: a \u201cCitizens\u2019 House\u201d and a \u201cToken House.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we just had tokens, then governance rights would be buyable on the open market,\u201d Karl Floersch, chief technology officer, said on the Bankless podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The plan calls for an \u201cOptimism Collective,\u201d which explicitly aims to prevent the centralization of governance power in the hands of moneyed interests. \u201cIt\u2019s more equal,\u201d Floersch said.<\/p>\n
Rather than follow a one-token-one-vote structure, the system\u2019s architects at Optimism PBC, a public-benefit corporation rebranded as OP Labs<\/a>, sought to create a \u201cbalanced, decentralized, bottom-up governance system by the people for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
An illustration of the proposed Optimism governance scheme<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Layer-2 implementations, built on top of Ethereum\u2019s mainnet, inherit Ethereum\u2019s security but allow transaction throughput to scale, while reducing gas fees \u2014 the cost of block space on the network. Optimism is currently the third largest layer-2 by total value locked, at $670 million, behind Arbitrum and dYdX, according to L2beat<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Tokens have typically been used to bootstrap liquidity on new protocols, but Optimism received an early boost by being the first layer-2 on which Uniswap announced<\/a> it would deploy its leading dex protocol. Synthetix, another decentralized finance (DeFi) blue chip, embraced the network<\/a> as its rollup solution of choice.<\/p>\n
A new kind of airdrop<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Jinglan Wang, Optimism\u2019s co-founder and CEO, and Ben Jones, formerly the chief scientist, will move to a new Optimism Foundation, which will fund external teams to build out the OP ecosystem.<\/p>\n
The OP token is not yet claimable, let alone tradeable on the secondary market, but the team sought to de-emphasize its role.<\/p>\n
\n
\u201cThe token is missing the point of this thing. This is about building a new system of governance and funding mechanisms for public goods,\u201d Jones said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The problem with Web2 is plutocracy, Wang said. The Optimism team are trying to avoid a \u201csneaky plutocracy,\u201d enabling Optimism network participants to coordinate without falling prey to the \u201cpressures of centralization.\u201d<\/p>\n
To do that, governance power will reside with \u201ccitizens\u201d \u2014 holders of NFTs that will be distributed by projects built on Optimism. But unlike most NFTs (non-fungible tokens) today, these will be \u201csoul bound,\u201d that is, fixed to a specific address \u2014 a single person. They will not be able to be transferred or sold.<\/p>\n
While the details remain scant, the team envision a grassroots network, seeding a \u201cweb of trust\u201d on-chain that will grow over time. Independent projects will decide which of their community members will best represent their community\u2019s interests in Optimism governance.<\/p>\n
The idea has been received favorably among the broader Ethereum community, with co-founder Vitalik Buterin calling it \u201cpossibly the biggest attempt at non-token-holder-centric DAO governance so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Possibly the biggest attempt at non-token-holder-centric DAO governance so far. Excited to see where this goes.<\/p>\n
👀 https:\/\/t.co\/9vreC7QsXa<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) April 26, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
The initial airdrop was aimed to be \u201csuper fair,\u201d with a wide distribution and built-in Sybil-resistance<\/a>, by rewarding a set of behaviors that would be difficult to game. But it will only be the first of a string of airdrops used to incentivize activity that helps Optimism, and Ethereum more broadly, grow, by distributing public goods funding to recipients from across Ethereum development.<\/p>\n
The team see its governance experiment as a test bed for the future evolution of the entire internet.<\/p>\n
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\u201cRight now we sit at an inflection point\u2026this is a moment where the internet is most sorely in need of human representation, identity, and fixing these problems that we have,\u201d Floersch said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cHumanity is important, we need to capture and fight for our rights as people and individuals to make sure our networks reflect our values.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nGet the day\u2019s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening.\u00a0Subscribe to Blockworks\u2019 free newsletter<\/a>\u00a0now.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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