Announcing Optimism Fractal’s Hiatus
I’ve submitted a proposal to the Optimism Fractal Council for an indefinite strategic hiatus of Optimism Fractal events.
As you may remember, we had planned to return for Optimism Fractal Season 7 on January 22nd. However, after careful deliberation over the past couple of months, Tadas and I have decided that it makes more sense to pause Optimism Fractal and consolidate our resources in Eden Fractal.
As explained in our community intent document, the Optimism Fractal Council operates through a legislative consensus process where community members who have earned Respect can register as Council members during each period between Respect Game events. In the most recent period, only Tadas and I registered, which means we have the legislative authority to make this decision. As both councilors and cofounders of Optimism Fractal (and the Optimystics), @Tadas and I are confident that this is the right decision for the community.
This decision was first suggested by Tadas back in mid-November, in the days after Optimism Fractal’s last event of the season. Tadas proposed a topic proposal about this in the Eden Fractal telegram group and then we discussed it at the Eden Town Hall on November 20th. I invited everyone from the Optimism Fractal community to join that conversation and, after thinking about it very carefully, the direction became clear — we’re better off focusing our energy on Eden Fractal. Zaal and other community members who participated were also fully supportive. You can watch the full discussion in the 67th Eden Town Hall video on the Eden Creators YouTube channel.
Since then, Tadas and I have spoken about this several more times, including at last week’s Eden Town Hall, and we remain in complete agreement. He voted to approve the proposal earlier today. As such, we’ve decided to indefinitely postpone Optimism Fractal Season 7 and will meet for a community discussion at Eden Town Hall on January 22nd at 16 UTC instead of an Optimism Fractal Respect Game.
Why We’re Making This Decision
Eden Fractal is the foundational community from which Optimism Fractal emerged. It’s been working to implement fractal decision-making processes throughout society since 2021, and it has a clear vision and mission that needs more resources to fulfill.
Since Eden Fractal launched its Epoch 2 initiative last May, Eden Fractal has been building on Base—part of the Superchain—and is directly advancing Optimism Fractal’s mission of fostering collaboration, recognizing public goods creators, and pioneering better governance on the Superchain. So even though we’re pausing Optimism Fractal, we’re continuing to build on the Superchain and support Optimism’s ecosystem.
There’s been a lot of exciting momentum in the fractal ecosystem lately. Several new initiatives are sprouting up and there’s a lot of work to be done to support this growth. Eden Fractal is the natural home for that support. Meanwhile, splitting our attention between communities has become unsustainable — we haven’t been able to give either Eden Fractal or Optimism Fractal the attention they each deserve. This showed up clearly in Optimism Fractal when I was the only person at our last event, which became a meaningful signal about where to direct our energy. At the same time, Eden Fractal has been generating significant excitement that warrants more of our attention. By focusing our energy on Eden Fractal, we can strengthen our core infrastructure. provide more attention to the growing ecosystem of fractal communities, and prepare our tools for implementation at a greater scale.
Additionally, the Optimism Foundation recently announced significant changes for Season 9. They’re shifting away from community-led capital allocation, including pausing Retro Funding for 12+ months and planning to dissolve the Grants Council. Community-driven capital allocation and governance is precisely what Optimism Fractal was designed to demonstrate. This news reaffirmed our already agreed-upon decision that this is the right time to refocus our energy.
Fractal governance is beneficial for all communities and organization on any blockchain. Right now, Eden Fractal and several other fractal communities are building on the Superchain, and we plan to continue supporting the Superchain that way. But Eden Fractal’s broader mission—implementing fractal decision-making throughout society—positions us to support fractal governance wherever it takes root.
This is essentially wrapping up Optimism Fractal’s first six seasons as a successful experiment in which we made significant progress toward our goals. It’s also laying the groundwork for an eventual return when conditions in both the fractal ecosystem and the Optimism Collective are more aligned.
You can follow our progress continuing Optimism Fractal’s mission at Eden Fractal in the Eden Fractal Optimism Governance Forum Thread and learn more about some of our experiences with the Optimism Collective’s funding mechanisms in this draft article.
What Happens Now
The ORDAO app at optimism.frapps.xyz and the smart contracts continue to function. Your Respect tokens remain, and you can still use them to vote on proposals through ORDAO and Snapshot. The ORDAO branch of our governance stays active and can reactivate the Respect Game events and Optimism Fractal Council when the community decides the time is right.
All 72 Optimism Fractal event videos, over 40 Optimism Town Hall recordings, and all our documentation is still available. You can find these resources on our websites and watch all the videos on the Eden Creators YouTube channel. Optimism Town Hall will also enter an indefinite hiatus—I’ll be hosting Eden Town Hall in its place. This Discord also stays open — feel free to keep chatting here. However, I’d recommend joining the Eden Fractal telegram group chat, which is much more active and the best place to keep in touch with updates from the fractal ecosystem.
I also want to let you know that the Optimystics events calendar has transitioned to the Eden Creators events calendar. This goes along with our shift in resources to support the Eden Fractal ecosystem. If you were subscribed to Optimystics events, you’ll now receive invitations from Eden Creators. The Optimystics’ educational materials remain available as well, but I’ll be focusing more on work with Eden Creators going forward to support the Eden community.
Join Eden Fractal
Everyone from Optimism Fractal is warmly invited to continue the journey at Eden Fractal. Whether you’ve been deeply embedded in the fractal ecosystem or you’re building on Optimism and curious about better governance and coordination—you’re welcome to join us.
This Thursday, January 22nd at 16 UTC—the same day Optimism Fractal was scheduled to return—we’ll be hosting an Eden Town Hall instead and we may meet for two hours. We’ll be discussing Eden Fractal’s schedule for Season 12 (we’re deciding between weekly and bi-weekly events) and welcoming anyone from the Optimism Collective to share their thoughts about Optimism Fractal, Eden Fractal topics, and more. We’d love to see you there!
Explore Eden Fractal: https://edenfractal.com
Register for events: Eden Creators · Events Calendar
Join the conversation: Telegram: View @edenfractal
Watch Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@EdenCreators
Explore Eden Town Hall: https://edentownhall.com/
Optimism governance forum thread: Eden Fractal Epoch 2: Implementing Fractal Decision-Making on the Superchain
Conclusion
I believe Optimism Fractal will return when the time is right. I don’t know exactly when that will be, but when both the fractal ecosystem and the Optimism Collective are more ready for this kind of collaboration, we can pick up where we left off through our existing consensus processes. I’m excited for that day. Until then, I really hope to see everybody at Eden Fractal.
I want to thank everyone for all the wonderful experiences and the things we’ve built together over the past two years. We met so many amazing people here who played pivotal roles in helping Optimism Fractal and helping the broader fractal ecosystem grow. Thank you for being here, sharing your work, and believing in this vision. It’s been a great pleasure and a very special time in my life, and I’m deeply grateful for everyone’s participation.
For more details on Optimism Fractal’s hiatus, you can read the proposal linked above and stay tuned for upcoming articles. Thank you all for everything. Go Eden Fractal, go Optimism Fractal, and go Optimism! 
