The Optimism Foundation has unveiled a significant change to the structure of the OP token, aiming to allocate 50% of its Superchain revenue to regular buyback initiatives. This proposal is hoped to enhance the relationship between OP token value and network activity.

Michael Vander Meiden, a member of the Optimism Grants Council, shared this proposal on X, stating that “after numerous years being perceived as a ‘useless gov token,’ the OP token’s value will at last be linked to network performance.”

Initially shared in the Optimism governance forum, the plan seeks to use half of the incoming Superchain revenues for monthly buybacks of OP tokens, funneling these back into the token treasury. These tokens may then be either burnt or distributed as staking rewards as the platform progresses. Control over the parameters regarding the buybacks and token treasury will remain with Governance.

The proposal serves to broaden the purpose of OP beyond governance alone, aligning it with the expanding ecosystem of the Superchain and enhancing opportunities for OP holders and contributors. As the Superchain continues to develop, it is expected that the token will gain further functionality that aligns with the long-term decentralization and strength of the network, such as in securing shared infrastructure and enabling collective governance over critical protocol functions.

Notably, the Superchain captured a 61.4% share of the Layer 2 fee market and manages 13% of total crypto transactions. Optimism’s Superchain was initiated in February 2023 and is composed of a series of layer-2 chains established with the project’s open-source OP stack, including networks like Unichain and Coinbase’s L2 Base. Despite a challenging year in 2025 with OP prices plummeting by nearly 83%, this proposal has yet to produce a rebound in market values.