A new proposal from the Optimism Foundation seeks to reshape the role of the layer 2’s OP token, with plans to use 50% of the Superchain revenue to support recurring buybacks.
The proposal, submitted on Jan. 8, outlines a plan to direct 50% of incoming Superchain revenue toward monthly OP token purchases that will be routed back into the Collective’s treasury.
Superchain, launched back in February 2023, is a network of layer 2 chains built using Optimism’s open-source OP Stack to create a unified ecosystem that enables scalability and shared infrastructure.
If approved, the new proposal would establish a direct link between Superchain activity and the OP token through recurring buybacks.
OP token beyond governance
The proposal highlighted how Optimism has grown from being an “experiment” in Ethereum scaling to a leading layer 2 ecosystem and touted the move as the next logical step in aligning token value with protocol usage.
“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,” the team said.
According to the Foundation, the goal of the proposal is to strengthen the OP token’s utility so that the OP token evolves beyond just governance and aligns with actual economic activity across the ecosystem.
“With this buyback mechanism, OP transitions from a pure governance token to a token that is tightly aligned with the growth of the Superchain,” the Foundation said.
After the tokens are purchased, the Foundation plans to burn or redistribute them as staking rewards to support the broader ecosystem. However, governance would maintain “oversight over parameters that control the buyback and the token treasury,” it added.
“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,” the Optimism Foundation continued.
As a part of the proposal, the Optimism Foundation would also directly manage any ETH revenue not directed to buybacks, which proponents expect would allow for “more active treasury management” to strengthen the Superchain’s shared economy.
Voting for the proposal is set to begin Jan. 22, and if approved, the monthly buyback program will begin by February.
An industry-wide trend
Throughout 2025, decentralized finance protocols have increasingly moved to push their native tokens beyond simple governance rights to implement direct value capture mechanisms tied to protocol revenue and usage.
For instance, the Aave DAO announced a major change in its tokenomics in late October by proposing a permanent buyback program that allocates roughly $50 million annually to purchase AAVE tokens from the open market using protocol revenue.
More recently, Uniswap passed the UNIfication proposal, which centers on redirecting protocol fees toward supporting the UNI token through buybacks.
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