Delegates to the Optimism DAO began voting Thursday on a plan that would require the Optimism Foundation to use 50% of Superchain revenue to buy back OP tokens each month. The proposal aims to support the token’s price as the network grows.
The vote opened Thursday and runs six days, ending January 28. So far, delegates cast more than 3.8 million votes in favour and just over 19,000 votes against the proposal, according to the vote page.
Optimism powers the Superchain and its OP stack is used by chains including Coinbase’s Base, Uniswap’s Unichain, and Kraken’s Ink. The OP token has fallen over 93% from its all-time high and hit an all-time low near $0.25 last month.
The proposal has split delegates, with critics calling the buyback a poor use of capital. PaperImperium said on X that, “Optimism is a net seller of OP (grants, payment-in-kind, etc) and it makes little sense to spend precious hard assets and shorten runway to buy back OP while still net selling,” reflecting GFX Labs concerns.
Delegates also raised execution worries because purchases would occur over-the-counter rather than on public markets. Michael Vander Meiden warned in a forum post that OTC trades could let insiders sell into buybacks, and the Foundation said OTC trades will be reported publicly (Ed. note: OTC trades generally do not affect open market prices directly.)
Some researchers argue buybacks may not help token prices and could divert funds from growth. Research by Keyrock and Messari suggests buybacks can be ineffective, and GFX Labs said in a forum post, “We would prefer to see more focus on crafting and publishing a business plan to get Optimism to financial sustainability,” rather than buybacks.
Supporters call the plan a positive step and urge further discussion on details. Milo Bowman said in a forum post, “It’s totally fine to have a buyback programme alongside emissions, even if they technically cancel out (partially),” and a spokesperson for PGov described the measure as “It’s a step in the right direction.”
