Optimism forecasts 2.504 billion OP tokens will be in circulation by April 2027, representing 58.3% of the total supply. However, a discrepancy exists between the project’s budget update and its publicly available supply tracker, leaving a gap of approximately 125.5 million OP tokens unaccounted for.
Optimism expects its circulating supply to reach 2.504 billion OP by April 2027, equal to 58.3% of the token’s total supply. Data shows the Foundation’s Year 4 update and Year 5 outlook listed 2.161 billion OP in circulation out of a total supply of 4.295 billion.
The increase from the current circulation figure to the Year 5 end point would require approximately 343 million OP to be released. The official forecasted numbers account for only 272.9 million OP in planned distributions, creating a gap of about 70.1 million OP.
A second discrepancy emerges when comparing the budget to the supply tracker. According to the budget update, 2,160,975,703 OP were in circulation, but the supply tracker shows 2,286,467,356 OP, a difference of roughly 125.5 million OP. The Optimism Foundation did not explain the reason for this variance.
The budget breakdown allocates 200 million OP to the ecosystem fund, 47.6 million OP to early contributors, 15.3 million OP to investors, and 10 million OP to the governance fund. The Foundation stated that forecasts are directional estimates and could be revised based on program results and governance input.
Optimism allocated about 150 million OP in Year 4, which was 33% less than the 229.92 million OP allocated in Year 3. Governance fund releases declined by 53% to 13.4 million OP, while retro funding releases fell 30% to 14.2 million OP. No user airdrops were included in the current forecast.
The project approved a 12-month buyback plan in January, allocating 50% of revenue from eligible Superchains to monthly buybacks. By August 6, over nine million OP had been repurchased under this program.
