[grant update] Glo Dollar upgrade to funding RetroPGF Retrospective Report

Glo Dollar (USDGLO) is a stablecoin designed to fund public goods. It is a US regulated, 100% fiat backed stablecoin.

We were awarded a mission request grant to create an additional revenue source to fund RetroPGF rounds, recognizing the long-term need for sustainable funding beyond the initial earmarked funds from the Optimism Foundation.

Our grant has been used to add Optimism’s Retro Funding and builder community as a Glo Dollar funding cause, as well as enhance stablecoin diversity and resilience within Optimism, boost TVL, transactions, and daily active users. We achieved this by driving Glo Dollar adoption through protocol integrations, ecosystem partnerships and community building.

Currently, Optimism has a $1.138B stablecoin market cap. Glo Dollar capturing a percentage of that market would generate consistent and yearly funding for Optimism Retro Funding and the community of builders.

  • $25M in Glo Dollar (just 2.2%) would unlock up to $1M annually for Optimism Retro Funding.

  • $500M in Glo Dollar would unlock up to $20M annually for Optimism Retro Funding.

One of our critical milestones is to publish a Retrospective Report on our completion of the mission request.

At the start of 2024, Glo Dollar had $50,000 in MC, 90 holders, and virtually no dApp integrations on Optimism.

Today we have $469k in MC, 6000+ holders, 29 integrations and we’re focusing on compounding that growth in 2025.

This report outlines the milestone targets we set and proof of their completion or in progress status.

Our milestones and their current statuses are:

  • Complete Glo Dollar AutoPGF development: Completed

  • Launch Glo Dollar AutoPGF: Completed

  • Announce AutoPGF upgrade at major conference: Completed

  • 2000 holders have selected to fund RetroPGF: Completed

  • 5000 holders on Optimism: Completed

  • 20 protocols / dapps integrate Glo Dollar: Completed

  • Launch 2+ strategic partnerships: Completed

  • Run Gitcoin round for builders on Glo Dollar on Optimism: Completed

  • $10 million market cap on Optimism: unmet / in progress

  • Publish retrospective report: Completed now this is published

Complete Glo Dollar AutoPGF Development and Launch Glo Dollar AutoPGF

How AutoPGF works:

Announce AutoPGF upgrade at a major conference

2000 holders have selected to fund Optimism Retro Funding

  • When the Glo Dollar dApp was first launched, users had to self select Optimism Retro Funding

  • We updated the dApp in October to set Optimism Retro Funding as the default cause for all Glo Dollar holders on Optimism until they choose otherwise.

  • Currently we have 5000+ holders who have Optimism Retro Funding selected

Currently, all Glo Dollar holders on Optimism default to funding Optimism Retro Funding in our Dapp unless they choose another cause. However, we’ve been informed that we cannot send these funds to the Optimism Foundation due to legal restrictions.

From Jonas:
“We’re not accepting donations to Retro Funding at the moment. For legal reasons, we cannot do it. If you want to donate to an RF project, it’s best to send funds directly to them.”

As a result, we are considering redirecting this funding to SuperchainEco bounties, which supports Superchain development through analytics, project documentation, and governance tools. Their initiatives, including Superchain Index, Superchain Accounts, and engagement systems, help scale TVL, DAU, and governance participation—key goals for Optimism and the broader Superchain ecosystem.

5000 holders on Optimism

  • Our live Glo Dollar on Optimism data

  • (Screenshot date Jan 31)

20 protocols / dapps integrate Glo Dollar

Glo Dollar currently has 29 protocol/dapp integrations on Optimism, and we are continuing to expand those numbers.

DeFi and Payments

Wallets and Multisigs

Stablecoin Issuer/Onramp

Public Goods and Builder Funding

Community and Coordination Tools

Launch 2+ strategic partnerships

  • Giveth

  • Partnered with Giveth to sponsor multiple grant rounds for builders and charities building on and within Optimism and other EVM chains

  • GIV-a-Palooza - 25,000 Glo Dollar (May ‘24)

  • GIV-Earth - 40,000 Glo Dollar(July ‘24)

  • Galactic Giving - 50,000 Glo Dollar(Sept ‘24)

  • Loving on Public Goods - 100,000 Glo Dollar(Jan ‘25)

  • Gitcoin

  • Adding in Glo Dollar as a matching fund payout token

  • Adding in Glo Dollar as a donation token

  • Between GG21-22, over $335,000 USDGLO was distributed as matching funds. In GG21, individual donors contributed $14K in USDGLO donations on Gitcoin, while in GG22, the total USDGLO donations from individual donors increased to $19K

  • ScoutGame

  • $1000 Glo Dollar was given out on Optimism for builders

  • PWN

  • Creating public Glo Dollar Optimism Markets-specific lending strategies

Other Superchain partnerships:

Mento Labs: Allocated $1 million in Glo Dollars to Celo public goods, which is joining the Superchain in 2025.

Shutter DAO 0x36: Swapped $300,000 of USDC for Glo Dollars on Ethereum to help fund web3 public goods such as Protocol Guild.

Run Gitcoin round for builders on Glo Dollar on Optimism

We ran a $10,000 USDGLO matching round for builders who have integrated, hold, or use Glo Dollar in some way on Optimism.

Our round had 54 applications, with 38 making it into the round. On top of the $10k in matching funds we provided, we were able to raise almost as much in donations at $9333.73, which is incredible. This means our total impact was $19,333.73 in funding for builders within the Optimism ecosystem.

You can view our Glo Dollar x Optimism Builders round report card here.

$10 million market cap on Optimism

We haven’t reached this goal yet, but we are actively working toward it with a dedicated team member focused on Optimism and Superchain growth.

One of our biggest hurdles has been the chicken-and-egg problem. Stablecoins are often used for DeFi lending and borrowing, yet without integration into major protocols like Aave, Compound, and Moonwell, scaling has been a challenge.

A key obstacle is that large treasuries and stablecoin holders prioritize earning interest on trusted DeFi platforms. To be listed, we need Oracle support, but Oracles require a minimum liquidity threshold—one we have yet to meet. This prevents us from being listed even on smaller, siloed lending markets, reinforcing the cycle.

Compounding the issue, LP rewards for stablecoin pairings remain low without additional incentives, making it difficult to attract the liquidity needed to meet Oracle requirements. This further slows adoption and integration into the broader DeFi ecosystem.

Breaking this cycle remains a critical focus as we work towards deeper DeFi integration, liquidity and TVL on Optimism.

To overcome this, we are collaborating with DeFi platforms like PWN and are in talks with Euler to launch public good siloed lending pools and get Oracle support. We are also starting to collaborate with DeFi Collective and Pool Together to find creative solutions to help drive USDGLO liquidity within Optimism and the Superchain ecosystem.

Our current overall market cap is $3.55m

On the Superchain we have $2.26m

Other Notable Glo Dollar Milestones

Looking at 2025

As Optimism and the Superchain grow, we remain committed to supporting the ecosystem. Our plans include upgrading Glo Dollar to a SuperchainERC20, expanding market cap and liquidity, being listed on major DeFi platforms and increasing funding for builders and public goods.

Being a newer and smaller stablecoin, our growth this year has relied entirely on self-generated network effects, which we now know require more resources, trust and most importantly time for us to reach $10M in market cap. In the wake of the TerraUSD depeg and other stablecoin failures, users tend to gravitate toward the perceived safety of USDC and USDT. Despite this, we continue to build through market fluctuations, securing independent security and risk rankings from BlueChip (a nonprofit stablecoin rating agency) and expanding our partnerships.

As Glo Dollar sees more integrations, treasury swaps—such as Mento’s $1,000,000 swap into Glo Dollar—and increased adoption in grant rounds on platforms like Giveth and Gitcoin, our network effects will strengthen, accelerating our growth and scaling on the Superchain more rapidly.

Additionally, we are focused on creating the same Liquidity Flywheel for Optimism that we have successfully built on Celo, creating a more sustainable and scalable growth trajectory. This includes working with SuperchainEco on Super Vaults, generating more growth within trusted DeFi protocols, driving TVL on Optimism and generating more funding to be donated back into the Optimism ecosystem.

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