Optimism Ends Airdrops, Shifts $50M in Tokens to Growth Fund

Optimism, a major crypto project, has decided to stop giving away free tokens and instead use them to fuel business growth.

Optimism is an Ethereum (ETH) scaling project — meaning it helps the Ethereum blockchain (a digital network for money and apps) run faster and cheaper. It runs technology called the "OP Stack," which powers other networks including Base, Kraken's Ink, and Sony's Soneium.

The big news: Optimism approved a plan (through a community vote) to repurpose 546.9 million OP tokens. These tokens were originally set aside for future "airdrops" but will now go to an ecosystem growth fund — money used to help build and expand its network.

Here's what an airdrop means: it's when a crypto project hands out free tokens to users to attract new people and reward early supporters. Optimism has already given away 269.1 million OP across five rounds but says it has no more airdrops planned. The company believes free giveaways made sense in the early days when it wanted lots of new users, but now it's focused on winning over big institutions (large companies and banks).

Key numbers to know:

• 546.9 million OP tokens redirected to the growth fund
• Worth roughly $50 million at current prices
• That's nearly a quarter of OP's total market value (~$211 million — the combined worth of all OP tokens)
• OP traded around $0.09, up about 11% in 24 hours
• Still down more than 93% from its all-time high

Optimism is also pushing into real-world payments. In July, it partnered with Toss, a popular South Korean mobile money app, to test a stablecoin (a crypto coin tied to a stable value, like the Korean won) for institutional payments.

The bottom line: Optimism is shifting its strategy — away from free giveaways for everyday users and toward building serious business relationships with large organizations. It's a sign the project wants to be seen as mature and ready for big-money clients.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://cointelegraph.com/news/optimism-moves-5469m-op-from-future-airdrops-to-ecosystem-growth-fund?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound