Optimism review

Overview

Optimism is a Layer 2 network for Ethereum, launched in 2021 by a team including Karl Floersch, Jinglan Wang and Kevin Ho. Like Arbitrum, it processes transactions cheaply and then posts the results to Ethereum, which keeps them secure.

Optimism’s bigger idea is the OP Stack: free, open-source software that anyone can use to launch their own Layer 2. Chains built with it can join the Superchain, a network of compatible chains that share technology, security upgrades and a cut of their revenue with the Optimism Collective, the community that governs the project.

How it works

Optimism is an optimistic rollup: transactions are assumed to be valid unless someone proves otherwise during a challenge window of about a week. Since June 2024, anyone can submit such a challenge (“permissionless fault proofs”), an important step toward making the system trustless.

For users, OP Mainnet feels like Ethereum, with the same wallets and apps, but at a fraction of the cost. Withdrawing directly to Ethereum takes about a week, though bridges can do it faster.

The Superchain and Base

For years, Optimism’s biggest success was Base, the Layer 2 launched by Coinbase in 2023 using the OP Stack. Base became the busiest Layer 2 of all and the largest source of Superchain revenue. Other well-known chains, such as Uniswap’s Unichain, World Chain and Ink (from Kraken), also use the OP Stack.

In February 2026, Base announced it would leave the OP Stack and move to its own technology. It was a major blow: Base brought most of the Superchain’s activity and income. Optimism has since focused on companies and institutions, with an “OP Enterprise” offering; Unichain is scheduled to move to it in late October 2026.

The OP token and buybacks

OP is a governance token: holders vote on upgrades and on how the Collective’s treasury is spent. For a long time it had no direct link to network income. In January 2026, token holders approved using 50% of Superchain sequencer revenue to buy back OP every month, in a 12-month pilot that started in February.

The timing was unlucky. With Base gone, revenue shrank, and one analysis found monthly buybacks fell from about 7 million OP to under 1 million. Meanwhile, more tokens are still being released to the team, investors and the ecosystem.

Optimism is also known for retroactive public goods funding: a second group, the Citizens’ House, rewards developers and projects after they have proven useful to the ecosystem.

Security and reliability

OP Mainnet’s technology is mature, widely audited and has run without major losses. The main points to know:

• One sequencer. Transactions are ordered by a single sequencer run by OP Labs. If it goes down, the network pauses, but funds remain safe and users can still go through Ethereum directly.
• Security Council. A council can make emergency upgrades. This protects users against bugs but means the system isn’t fully trustless yet.
• App risk. DeFi apps on any chain can have bugs.

Money deposited in DeFi apps on OP Mainnet stood at about $440 million in October 2026, according to DeFiLlama, far behind Arbitrum and Base.

Optimism vs. the competition

Our verdict

Optimism has shaped Ethereum scaling more than almost any other project: the OP Stack runs many of today’s Layer 2s, and its governance model is genuinely innovative. The 2026 buybacks were a welcome step toward rewarding OP holders.

But losing Base hurt badly, the buybacks are now much smaller, and OP trades about 97% below its peak. OP is a high-risk bet on Optimism winning new chains and enterprise customers. Invest only what you can afford to lose.

This review is for information only and is not financial advice.