Optimism Foundation recently made a strategic move to attract Kraken’s L2 to the Superchain ecosystem by offering 25 million OP tokens as grants. This deal, confirmed by Ryan Wyatt, the chief growth officer at Optimism Foundation, is valued at $43 million based on OP’s current price of $1.72. The grant is structured to support Kraken’s protocol engineering and incentivize major transaction milestones.
The 25 million tokens are divided into two segments: five million tokens will be allocated to engineering efforts specific to the OP Stack, while the remaining 20 million tokens will be used to achieve transaction benchmarks that generate substantial fees for the OP Collective. As these milestones are met, the tokens will be paid out to drive fees to the Optimism Collective, ensuring a positive return on investment.
This deal was not exclusive to Kraken, as other crypto firms utilizing Optimism’s infrastructure were also offered similar opportunities. The foundation emphasized that the grant goes beyond simple deployment costs, showcasing a commitment to protocol engineering, interoperability, and broader ecosystem goals.
Kraken’s Ethereum L2, Ink, aims to be a general-use network like Base, the only layer-2 blockchain deployed on Superchain by a centralized exchange. Base has seen significant success, surpassing $2.7 billion in total value locked as of October 29, making it the largest Ethereum L2 by TVL according to DefiLlama data.
The public document detailing OP token allocations, with nearly 480 million tokens committed to various funds, reflects Optimism Foundation’s commitment to transparency and accountability. As Kraken and other firms continue to leverage Optimism’s infrastructure, the Superchain ecosystem is poised for further growth and innovation in the DeFi sector.