Optimism Gov Summary

Updates and Announcements 📢 Governance Updates
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Hello! In this thread, we’ll be sharing a condensed update every two weeks with forum highlights — straight to the point and packed with the essentials to keep up with the DAO. If we missed anything, feel free to add it!

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Optimism Gov Summary | April 1st - April 14th

We want to share the last activity on the collective for the past two weeks. You will find on this brief:

  • Voting updates
  • Commissions & Councils Updates
  • Forum updates
  • Upcoming Calls
  • Opportunities

:ballot_box_with_ballot: Voting Updates

There were two votes who took place during the week of April 4th till April 9th. Both proposals were approved:

:classical_building: Commissions & Councils Updates

Grants Council

Final results for Cycle 35 grants were announced by @Gonna.eth, Grants Council Lead. This cycle, 20% more proposals were approved, with 6 applications approved, 6 deferred to Cycle 36, and 9 applications declined in the final step. You can read more about it here: Cycle 35 Grants Council final report. Also the Cycle 35 Audit Grants final report was just posted today.

Anti-Capture Commission

The ACC unanimously voted FOR two protocol upgrades (Upgrade Proposal #14 and #15) after voting on Snapshot and executing the transactions through the Safe. A clearer timeline was set to better organize voting, meetings, and execution. On April 8th, the ACC held its third internal meeting (VC#35) to review the proposals, share updates and explore ways to improve workflows for future seasons. Read the oficial ACC update here Anticapture Commission Communication Thread - #27 by ACC

Milestones & Metrics Council

@mel.eth from StableLab stepped down from the M&M Council and handed over their seat to @mmurthy. Read more here: https://gov.optimism.io/t/s7-milestones-and-metrics-council-communication-thread/

Forum Updates

New discussions and important announcements on the forum:

  • Allow the Optimism Foundation to Stake a Portion of Sequencer ETH Through Season 8: The Foundation shared an update that 20% of the approved ETH has already been staked with BitGo.
  • Season 8/9 Budget Board Charter: We have a new Board! Season 8 will kick off with the Budget Board, which will advise on budgeting and develop treasury management tools. The Board will operate from May 1, 2025, to May 1, 2026.
  • Season 8 and 9: Budget Board Member Ratification: Foundation proposed the first members of the initial Budget Board cohort. They selected individuals with experience in finance and data analysis. The members will be ratified by the Token House and the Citizens’ House in Voting Cycle #36.
  • Governance Update #10: A halfway check-in to dimension where we are, what we’ve achieved, and where the Collective is headed next: New milestones unlocked. Also new experiments underway: updates on grants, governance security, citizenship, and what’s coming for Season 8.

What’s New in the Collective?

  • Kudos to @Soneium for their introduction on the forum, and @GoBOB here as well.
  • Read the govNERDs Weekly Update here.
  • About the Futarchy experiment: read the latest Butter update here.
  • @SEEDGov hosted an interview with @lavande where we did a mid-season check-in to review key initiatives and talk about about Season 7’s Intent, Interop challenges, the Chain Delegation Program, AI delegates, decentralization milestones, the Futarchy experiment and the future of Superchain governance. It was fun, watch it here!

Next Calls

Save the dates and stay tuned to the agenda. Finde the calendar here: OP Governance Calendar

Opportunities

The call for submissions to Foundation Mission Requests is still open! :rocket:

EIP-7702 UX & Developer Tooling

  • Goal: Improve wallet UX and dev tools for EIP-7702 on the Superchain.
  • Grant: Up to 115k OP split across up to 3 teams.
  • Submit by: April 11
  • Selection by: April 21
  • Start date: April 22

ERC-7683 Integration with Native Interoperability

  • Goal: Build a settlement system using Superchain’s native cross-chain features, standardizing cross-chain intents.
  • Grant: 26k OP for one team.
  • Submit by: April 11
  • Selection by: April 21
  • Start date: April 22

Interop Oracle Standards & Infra for OP Superchain

  • Goal: Define standards and build infra for cross-chain oracles on the Superchain.
  • Grant: 154k OP for one team.
  • Submit by: April 11
  • Selection by: April 21
  • Start date: April 22

AI Delegate Development

  • Goal: Build autonomous AI Delegates that can understand governance proposals, reason transparently, and vote.
  • Grant: 8,000–14,000 OP per team, up to 4 teams.
  • Submit by: April 25
  • Selection by: May 6
  • Start date: May 6
  • Completion date: June 25

Are we missing something? Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

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Thanks for doing this @SEEDGov

Great way to see if we missed anything!

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Optimism Gov Summary | April 15th – May 2nd

We’ll share the latest activity in the Collective. You will find in this brief:

  • Voting updates
  • Commissions & Councils Updates
  • Forum updates
  • What’s New in the Collective?
  • Upcoming Calls
  • Opportunities

:ballot_box_with_ballot: Voting Updates

There were two votes who took place during voting cycle #36 from April 24th till April 30th. Both proposals were approved:

:classical_building: Commissions & Councils Updates

Grants Council

The Cycle 36 Grants and Audits Final Report was released, marking the official close of Grants Council Season 7. Still, the Council’s work continues and members are now following up with applicants to conduct NPS surveys, track TVL growth, and begin laying the groundwork for an AI tool to support operations in Season 8. The report detailed the season’s final outcomes: one grant application was approved while sixteen were declined in the final step. On the audit side, four audits were approved and twelve were rejected. With less than 2% of the 10M OP season budget remaining, the Council decided to formally close submissions for the remainder of the season.

A Season Reflection will be published soon by Grants Council Lead @Gonna.eth—stay tuned on the forum for the upcoming post!

Anti-Capture Commission

No new protocol upgrades were reviewed in this period. The ACC continues to iterate on internal workflows and communications based on past cycles.

Milestones & Metrics Council

No major updates were posted during this period.

:thread: Forum Updates

New proposals and announcements on the forum:

  • [Draft] Inflation Adjustment Proposal

    A new draft suggests adjusting the OP token inflation rate. The rationale behind the proposal and its implications are still being debated.

  • GovNERDs Community Call Recap

    The GovNERDs held their latest Community Call on April 29th. Updates included a Top Delegates Survey 🗳️ to gather feedback on improving the program and how it can better serve the Collective.

What’s New in the Collective?

SuperStacks: An Experiment for Incentivising Superchain Interop-Ready TVL across the Superchain

The SuperStacks campaign is now live and runs from April 16 to June 30. SuperStacks is an experimental pilot designed to explore how the Superchain can create a more seamless, connected onchain experience—by rewarding those who provide liquidity to interoperable assets across multiple chains.

How does it work?

:backhand_index_pointing_right: Connect your wallet, bridge USD₮0, and provide liquidity in designated pools across OP Mainnet, Base, Unichain, Ink, Soneium, and Worldchain. You’ll earn XP based on how much liquidity you add, how long you stay in the pool, and possibly a few surprises along the way. Once the campaign ends, the OP per XP redemption rate will be revealed, and a claims page will go live. The idea is to reward sustained, meaningful participation—not just quick moves.

This pilot builds on learnings from past incentive programs and could become the foundation for a long-term reward system across the Superchain. If you’re curious about the mechanics, participating protocols, or want to start stacking, head over to the SuperStacks site.

Last Joint House

:spiral_calendar: During this period, we also had the Joint House Community Call on April 22 at 18:00 UTC, where Lavande led a discussion on the Budget Board Member Ratification and Charter

Next Calls

:pushpin: Update: Starting this month, Optimism will host only one Community Call per month. This will be the Joint House Community Call.

  • DAB Office Hours: Tuesday, May 6th at 11:00 UTC
  • Next Joint House Community Call: Monday, May 20th at 18:00 UTC

:spiral_calendar: All Optimism governance events can be added to your calendar here

:rocket: Opportunities

Foundation Mission Request: AI Delegate Development

The Foundation will soon announce selected teams for this mission.

  • Goal: Build autonomous AI Delegates that can parse proposals, reason transparently, and vote.
  • Selection by: May 12
  • Start date: May 12
  • Completion date: June 25

Are we missing something? Feedback and suggestions are always welcome, please leave them here :slight_smile:

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Submit by: April 25 (not an opportunity anymore)
Selection date: May 12
Start date: May 12
Completion date: June 25

Nice Summary :heart:

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Optimism Gov Summary | May 2nd - May 23th

Yesterday started the last cycle of Season 7, Cycle #38 will run til June 11th.

Here’s a quick summary of the Collective’s latest activity. You will find in this brief:

  • Voting updates
  • Commissions & Councils Updates
  • Forum updates
  • What’s New in the Collective?
  • Upcoming Calls

:ballot_box_with_ballot:Voting Updates

No votes took place during voting cycle #37.

Commissions & Councils Updates

:classical_building: Grants Council

If you read the last post, you already know that the Grants Council closed its application window at the end of Season 7 and will reopen submissions in Season 8. A Season Reflection may be published soon—stay tuned on the forum!

Anti-Capture Commission

The Future of the Anticapture Commission

This discussion document was created internally by the Anti-Capture Commission (ACC) to map out possible paths for the Commission as it heads into Season 8. As a fully initiative-driven meta-governance body its future role depends entirely on the Collective’s decision.

Key highlights include:

  • Only ~7% of OP’s ~1.66 billion total supply is currently votable (≈115.6 million OP; https://static.optimism.io/tokenomics/circulatingSupply.txt), with roughly 1 billion OP scheduled to unlock over the next two years (see [PUBLIC] OP Token Unlock (Estimated)).
  • Core capture risks are identified as technical (blocking or approving proposals to harm protocol integrity) and financial (draining treasury funds or misusing emissions), with specific vectors such as single-entity dominance, multi-entity collusion, and abuse of privileged rights.

Some open questions were shared, from streamlined voting processes to onchain powers and research-oriented roles—and now invite the Collective to weigh in with their perspectives in the forum post. Head over to the forum post to share your thoughts!

Milestones & Metrics Council

Looking ahead to Season 8, Foundation plans to introduce a new member selection method—replacing open elections with a stratified random sortition among pre-vetted, publicly attested contributors, prioritizing expertise and impartiality over popularity. We’ll be watching the forum for more details as these updates roll out.

:thread:Forum Updates

New proposals and announcements on the forum:

  • Superscan Metrics Overview: Retro Funding Season 7
    • Block explorers are widely regarded as public goods—open ledgers that anyone can consult at no cost. Yet behind the familiar transaction tables lies a sophisticated, developer-first SaaS layer: high-throughput APIs, analytics dashboards, and smart-contract verification pipelines. This tooling is where explorers create both economic value and network leverage, and it is precisely why protocols invest in giving them ever-richer data interfaces.

What’s New in the Collective?

Last Joint House

:tear_off_calendar: We had the Joint House Community Call on May 20th were Lavande walked us through the public Optimism Working Models for Decentralization facing Season 8, explaining that the team is close to locking in the onchain citizenship rules, has been strengthening the veto process to avoid stalemates, and is laying the groundwork for permissionless proposals and more automated operations in future .
Also Gonna recapped Season 7’s Grants Council performance, sharing that 8.3 million OP was allocated across 19 projects and generated $291 million in TVL—nearly three times the conservative $100 million forecast.

Recordings and a full recap by @alexsotodigital are available here: Joint House Community Calls Summaries - Season 7 - #8 by alexsotodigital

Next Calls

  • Budget Board Community AMA on May 27th 18:00 UTC.
  • govNERDS Community Office Hours on May 27th
  • Next Joint House Community Call will be on June 17, 2025 18:00 UTC

:tear_off_calendar: All Optimism governance events can be added to your calendar here

:blush: Are we missing something? Feedback and suggestions are always welcome, please leave them here

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Optimism Gov Summary | May 24th - June 6th

We are in the final cycle#38 of Season 7.

We’ll share the latest activity in the Collective. You will find in this brief:

  • Voting updates
  • Commissions & Councils Updates
  • Forum updates
  • What’s New in the Collective?
  • Upcoming Calls

:ballot_box_with_ballot: Voting Updates

Season 8 and 9 Milestone and Metrics Council Selection

This vote is active until June 11th! Remember delegates are asked to vote on approving these criteria (30% quorum, 51% yes) but not on the experiment itself.

In Season 8, it’s planned to pilot selecting “civil servant” roles (non-political contributors) without elections, starting with the M&M. Instead of voting, the Token House will ratify eligibility criteria (skills, reputation, opsec) and any qualifying candidate can submit a Charter to run as Lead in Voting Cycle #39a. Once the Charter sets the Council size (e.g., three members), the Foundation will randomly sample from all opted-in eligible addresses using a verifiable block hash seed. This temporary sampling lets us gather data on candidate attestations before moving to a ranked selection. Council rewards and accountability remain unchanged, and if the selection criteria aren’t approved, a traditional election will be held, delaying Season 8.

Commissions & Councils Updates

:classical_building:Grants Council

There have been no official updates from the Council to date. As mentioned in the previous gov summary, the Grants Council officially closed Season 7. Still, its work continues and members are following up with applicants to conduct NPS surveys, track TVL growth, and begin laying the groundwork for an AI tool to support operations in Season 8.

Anti-Capture Commission

  • The Future of the Anticapture Commission
    • This discussion document from the ACC reviews its mandate and outlines its structure and key actions since Season 5. It explains governance capture risks, traces the ACC’s timeline and major decisions, and highlights how token unlocks could shift voting power. Finally, it discusses potential futures for the ACC, such as streamlined procedures, on-chain veto rights, or a research focus, and asks whether it remains necessary.
  • Anticapture Commission - Season 7 Retrospective
    • Now in the final phase of Season 7, the council’s retrospective was posted, featuring concrete participation data, areas for improvement, and suggestions should the commission continue into Season 8. However, it is important to clarify that the Foundation has indicated they do not recommend renewal for the next season.

Milestones & Metrics Council

  • Season 8 and 9 Milestone and Metrics Council Selection
    Perhaps the most important post of the past week. It announces that for Seasons 8 and 9, the Foundation will experiment with alternative selection methods. Earlier in this post, we shared a brief summary of the changes currently up for vote.

:thread: Forum Updates

New posts and announcements on the forum:

  • The Weight of Influence: An Analysis of the Power in the Collective
    This research from SEED Gov shines a light on the distribution of voting power within the Optimism Collective, unraveling whether its governance lives up to the proclaimed ideals of openness and collective input. With data, comparative analyses across past seasons, and a functional definition of “whales,” it’s a snapshot about how voting power is distributed and how it shifted season by season.

  • Retro Funding: on Memecoins and Onchain GM
    Jonas shared that The Retro Funding Onchain Builder Program currently rewards any onchain project (like memecoins) based on metrics such as transactions and unique users. These projects are seeing high engagement, but there’s a debate: should they continue to receive Retro Funding, given concerns about long-term value and airdrop farming, or should funding focus more on innovative, sustainable contributions? Community feedback is needed!

  • Season 7 Guest Voter Selection Experiment Outcomes
    Season 7’s Guest Voter experiment showed two voter types, one conservative and intent-aligned, the other public-goods focused with larger budgets, and found that personal values outweighed roles in decision-making. Low builder turnout skewed results, so we recommend lowering barriers, enabling organizational votes, balancing stakeholder influence, and using expertise signals for budgeting under an optimistic approval model.

  • Grants Council Wider Picture (Season 6 & 7)
    In this report, SEEDGov review the last two seasons of the Council, following the approach of our previous Big Picture report. Over Seasons 6 and 7, the Grants Council shifted gears to keep pace with the Collective’s evolving priorities and along the way, you can learn a few key lessons. In Season 6, a broad, four-team structure tackled decentralization, new chain integrations, and developer support, channeling most of its resources into Superchain security while approving roughly a third of the 344 proposals it reviewed. By Season 7, the Council had one single focus: maximizing Total Value Locked; evaluating just 102 unique submissions and ultimately funding under 9 percent as budgets tightened and audit requests rose in prominence. If you’re thinking about applying, take note: understanding the season’s core intent (whether it’s security, expansion, or TVL growth) and crafting your proposal around that goal from day one will vastly improve your chances of success.

What’s New in the Collective?

  • @kent made updates in the Agora Optimism Governance Feedback here. The vote.optimism.io interface now makes delegation simpler by displaying a banner for users who haven’t yet delegated. Delegate lists can be sorted and filtered by criteria like most or least voting power, top delegations, and oldest delegation. Additionally, the Voter page is twice as fast, with participation rates loading instantly, thanks to backend improvements.
  • Calling all Superchain builders! There’s an event with Unichain: the InterOP UNIverse :sparkles:. Optimism and Unichain will be hosting a gathering for Superchain builders, focusing on interoperability, scaling, and DeFi. Don’t miss this chance, join it in NYC for an unforgettable day of collaborations :sparkles: More here.
  • Exactly Protocol and the Exa App - Scaling onchain finance on Optimism shared some updates on the forum.

:tear_off_calendar: Next Calls

  • govNERDs Community Office Hours on Tuesday, June 10th.
  • DAB Office Hours on Tuesday, June 17th.
  • The next Joint House call will be on June 17th. Optimism will host only one Community Call per month.
  • Delegate Monthly Onboarding Call, on Tuesday, June 17th.

All Optimism governance events can be added to your calendar here

Are we missing something? Feedback and suggestions are always welcome :blush:, please leave them here

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Optimism Gov Summary | June 6th – July 14th

Special update on the governance transition from Season 7 to Season 8. We’re currently between seasons, and in this edition we’ll cover key votes, proposals, retrospectives, and forum activity leading up to the Season 8 kickoff. You’ll find:

  • Voting Updates
  • Commissions & Councils Reports
  • Forum Highlights
  • What’s New in the Collective
  • Upcoming Calls
  • Opportunities for Builders

:ballot_box_with_ballot: Voting Updates

Cycle #38 – Final Season 7 Vote

:cross_mark: The Season 8 & 9 Milestones and Metrics Council Selection proposal was narrowly defeated, receiving 50.68% approval, just shy of the required 51%. Many delegates voted AGAINST, raising concerns about the restrictive eligibility criteria, lack of delegate input, and randomness in a very small candidate pool. With this outcome, the elections for M&M Council will now take place in Cycle #39c, alongside the onchain budget transfers.

Special Voting Cycle #39a

A number of proposals crucial to Season 8 passed, including:

:white_check_mark: Season 8 Intent Ratification – The same overarching mission as Season 7, but with refined goals.
:white_check_mark: Season 8 Grants Council Charter amendment
:white_check_mark: Season 8 Milestones and Metrics Council Charter
:white_check_mark: Governor Update Proposal: Removing Abstain Count from Quorum: : A governance fix proposed by Agora, removing “Abstain” from quorum calculations.

Special Voting Cycle #39b

:white_check_mark: Upgrade 16 Proposal: Prepares OP Stack for Superchain interop, removes a permissioned role, and ensures L2Beat Stage 1 compatibility.
:white_check_mark: DAO Budget Proposal for Seasons 8 & 9: A revised version of the previously posted budget proposal requesting 4.44M OP to support operational needs across Seasons 8 and 9.

Commissions & Councils Updates

:classical_building: Grants Council

@Gonna.eth shared the Season 7 Retrospective where he revealed a jump in TVL, from $51M to $480M, largely driven by Spark. However, only a small % of proposals were funded due to tighter budgets and audit demands. Pain points included: a frustrating Charmverse UX, slow feedback cycles, and incentive overlaps. For Season 8, the Council plans to launch a new grant platform, cut feedback turnaround to 15 days, coordinate better with Superstacks, and formalize the GrantNerd/Intake model. An MVP AI-powered scoring form has already been released.
In parallel, OSO and Foundation shared its own S7 Grants Council Impact Analysis, offering an alternative view on the Council’s effectiveness, showing increasing accountability and diversity of evaluation sources.
It’s important to add, as mentioned above, that the charter for Season 8 Grants Council
proposed by Gonna was approved during Cycle 39a.

Anticapture Commission (ACC)

@Pumbi published the Season 7 Retrospective, summarizing activity and debate around the Commission’s performance. Following the ACC Futures post, the Foundation aligned on dissolving the commission, citing that new parameters in Season 8 reduce the relevance of its role. The proposal Anticapture Commission Dissolution Proposal will have a formal vote expected to take place in Voting Cycle #39c.

Developer Advisory Board (DAB)

Ed @wildmolasses shared the Developer Advisory Board - Season 7 Retrospective highlighting a shift from early KPIs (like NPS tracking and technical summaries) toward a more adaptive and collaborative “Office Hours” model. The DAB played a key role in protocol upgrade audits and supported Foundation Missions. Looking ahead to Season 8, priorities include updating role definitions and introducing a conflict of interest policy to strengthen the structure.
As mentioned above, the DAB charter for Seasons 8 proposed by Ed was approved during Cycle 39a.

Milestones & Metrics Council

The Retrospective by @PGov reported strong performance: <5% milestone drop-off, quick turnaround, smooth multisig ops (10M OP), and no clawbacks. Season 8 and 9 Milestone and Metrics Council Selection was defeated (see Cycle #38), but retrospective feedback suggests the Council remains operationally solid.

Collective Feedback Commission (CFC)

The CFC Season 7 retrospective reflected on three seasons of impact. Though KPIs were mostly met, the CFC will not return in Season 8. This shift is part of a broader move to reduce metagovernance surface area and minimize platform risk, outlined further in Working Models for Decentralization and The Collective Feedback Commission: The Next Iteration.

Security Council

The Security Council Season 7 Retrospective by @Alisha confirmed they met key responsibilities, executing 16 upgrades and ensuring 24/7 availability. Some members shared a concerns about increased duties without proportional compensation and missed infrastructure milestones like an emergency notification system. The Security Council Operating Budget Seasons 8 & 9 was just shared and will go up for a vote in Cycle #39c next Thursday, July 24th.

Budget Board

The [DRAFT] Budget Board Advisory Proposal for the DAO Operating Budget for Seasons 8 and 9 set a 2.3M OP cap (plus 80K OP for infra), based on a TTM revenue of 6,621.9 ETH. The revised version, was approved in Cycle #39b, and it requested 4.44M OP. A glidepath strategy and January 2026 midpoint review were proposed to ensure long-term sustainability. The Collective appreciates that community feedback was taken into account in the proposal.
Also worth noting: @katie resignation can be found here Seasons 8 and 9 Budget Board Communication Thread

:thread: Forum Highlights

Season 8

Season 8 Elections

Rewards

  • S8 Reward Framework: 8 tiers. BB recommends +20% to lower tiers; “wait and see” for higher-impact roles.

Retro Funding

  • S8 Retro Funding Missions:
    • Onchain Builders, Dev Tooling, OP Stack Dependencies
    • Monthly distributions start August (OP Stack = October)
  • [UPDATED] Budget Board Advisory Proposal for Retro Funding for Seasons 8 and 9
    • As pointed out by @ccerv1, this proposal has been updated. This new version replaces the earlier draft shared on July 7th, which proposed 87M OP for Retro Funding across Seasons 8 and 9. The updated proposal now focuses only on Season 8, with a total of 20M OP: 8M allocated to Onchain Builders, 8M to Developer Tooling, and 4M to OP Stack Dependencies. Instead of setting a budget for multiple seasons upfront, the Budget Board is now proposing funding on a season-by-season basis.

Futarchy

Updates

  • Budget Transparency Update: Foundation confirms it won’t request new funding from the Gov Fund, still operating on TGE allocation.
  • Guide to Season 8 : Foundation confirms Season 8 will be delayed for one week, and will now run from July 31st - December 24th. The reason for the delay is to accommodate more time for community review of Operating Budgets.

:magnifying_glass_tilted_right: What’s New in the Collective?

  • :unicorn: CFMs for Unichain Grants are live: predict which lending protocol (Compound, Euler, Morpho, or Venus) will have the highest TVL by July 11th. The winning protocol will receive a $100K grant, and accurate forecasters will earn rewards. To participate, deposit USDC and buy shares based on your predictions. Markets resolve on August 10th. Start forecasting at app.butter.markets and join the onboarding with @butterygg & the Uniswap Foundation at lu.ma/s0nslk6y. Read more here.
  • @Sov shared Part 1 of a new series on how Optimism’s grants began :sparkles:, shaped by the Plasma Group’s early struggles and the birth of “Impact = Profit.” Read it here: https://x.com/sovereignsignal/status/1943308739823673718
  • Futarchy experiment is over! Three months after running parallel grant selection tracks, the analysis shows that Futarchy identified a slightly higher TVL growth cohort, highlighting its potential as an effective and data driven decision making tool :clap:. Read more here.

:date: Upcoming Calls

  • Joint House Community Call - Tuesday July 15th - 18hs GMT
    All Optimism governance events can be added to your calendar here

Opportunities for Builders

  • :bug: Bug Bounty (via Immunefi): Optimism has expanded its bug bounty program with 2 million dollars in rewards to help secure upcoming Superchain protocol upgrades, reinforcing its focus on network safety and resilience. Check the info here.

Are we missing something? Feedback and suggestions are always welcome :blush:

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Please note we’ve updated the Retro Funding budget for S8 here: [UPDATED] Budget Board Advisory Proposal for Retro Funding for Season 8

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Optimism Gov Summary | July 15 – August 1st

We’ll share the latest activity in the Collective. You’ll find:

  • Voting updates
  • Commissions & Councils updates
  • Forum highlights
  • What’s New in the Collective?
  • Upcoming Calls

Season 8/9 kickoff

Season 8 has officially begun! :tada: It kicked off yesterday, on July 31, with one Intent: $100M/month in cross-chain transfers across Stage 1 chains, a concrete goal to drive Superchain adoption and reduce platform risk for the Collective’s stakeholders. To support this, governance has been redesigned with a more minimalist structure. Delegates are no longer incentivized to vote, optimistic approvals are now used for upgrades, and both the Collective Feedback and Anticapture Commissions have been sunsetted. All council budgets were approved following Budget Board guidelines and ETH/OP stipend repricing. New council members have been elected, and the Citizens’ House now formally represents chains, apps, and end-users.

:ballot_box_with_ballot: Voting Updates

Special Voting Cycle 39c wrapped up with the final pieces of the transition into Season 8. Here are the results:

The following two proposals were voted on only by the Citizens’ House:

:thread:Forum Updates

What’s New in the Collective?

  • Superchain Upgrade 16 is now live :sparkles:: approved by OP Governance and already deployed, brings key improvements to the OP Stack. It includes smart contract changes to enable future interoperability across the Superchain, meets L2Beat’s updated criteria for Stage 1 decentralization on chains like OP Mainnet, Base, Ink, and Unichain, and raises gas limits to 500M per block.
  • OP claims are now open for SuperStacks participants: This experimental pilot was designed to test incentive mechanisms for accelerating DeFi and interoperable assets across the Superchain, and it exceeded expectations :clap:. Now, it’s time for participants to claim their well-earned rewards.
  • Base is ushering in a new era of innovation and utility for the Superchain, all built on Ethereum and the OP Stack: Announced at A New Day One, Base becomes Base Chain :sparkles:, introducing major upgrades like Flashblocks for faster transactions, new Base Build tools to help developers grow and monetize, and the transformation of Coinbase Wallet into the Base app—a super app combining social, chat, payments, and trading.
  • Retro Funding results :red_circle: :dizzy:: Retro Funding distributed 2.6M OP in June to 154 onchain apps and 89 developer tools. By recognizing both apps and the infrastructure behind them, Retro Funding continues to empower developers to keep building across the Superchain.

:tear_off_calendar: Next Calls

No official calls announced for early August yet—stay tuned in the Optimism Calendar for updates.

:tada:Congratulations to all newly elected Council members for Seasons 8 and 9 :clap: We’re excited to see this cohort bring their talent and values.

:blush: Are we missing something? Feedback and suggestions are always welcome

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Optimism Gov Summary | August 1st – August 15th

We’ll share the latest activity in the Collective. You’ll find:

  • Voting updates

  • Commissions & Councils updates

  • Forum highlights

  • What’s New in the Collective?

  • Upcoming Calls

:ballot_box_with_ballot: Voting Updates

There is an active vote on Agora, running until August 20th and part of Voting Cycle#40:

  • Security Council Season 7 Retroactive Funding Request: The Security Council lead @Alisha is requesting 346.920 OP in retroactive funding, following an increase in workload during Season 7, that included signing of upgrades for five chains and the completion of 19 upgrade ceremonies within six months (compared to six across the entirety of 2024). The request allocates 24.780 OP to each member of the council. While initially included in the Season 8/9 budget, the Foundation requested to be submitted as a separate proposal. It was scheduled for a vote in Cycle 39 but did not secure enough approvals after modifications, and is therefore currently active for voting in the present cycle.

Commissions & Councils Updates

:classical_building: Grants Council

@Gonna.eth shared the Internal Operating Procedures (IOP) for the Grants Council: Season 8: cycles last three weeks and applications will remain open until the budget is nearly exhausted. As a new feature, proposals are first AI-scored, with low-scoring ones eligible for promotion by GovNERDs. Passing or promoted proposals proceed to Final Review, where approval requires a simple majority of 3 out of 4 reviewers. Office Hours will also be held each cycle. In addition, the S8 Grants Council Communication Thread is the channel for all Council updates.

Security Council

As mentioned at the beginning of the summary, the Security Council Season 7 Retroactive Funding Request proposal is currently up for a vote.

Developer Advisory Board (DAB)

@wildmolasses shared the Internal Operating Procedures (IOP) for Developer Advisory Board: Season 8. The DAB’s S8 & S9 IOPs prioritize the Charter, with comms via a public forum thread and Office Hours. Protocol upgrades get a 7-day review and 7-day vote needing 5/7 approvals. Grants are reviewed on a rolling basis with a 14-day response target. Ops run on Telegram and a public GitHub board, COIs are declared, and changes need a simple majority taking effect next cycle. In the Seasons 8 & 9 Developer Advisory Board: Communication Thread all the updates will be shared.

Milestones & Metrics Council

@PGov posted the Internal Operating Procedures (IOP) for the M&M Council: Season 8. Among the highlights of this season’s IOPs are live data analytics for grantees, weekly disbursements via the M&M multisig (5 of 7 signers across M&M, Grants Council, and Developer Advisory Board), milestone tracking through the application portal with tagged Lead support, and communication through Discord, Telegram, or email. Reviewers manage submissions through the portal with dashboards and shared documents, and decide by simple majority (2 of 3), with the Lead acting as tie-breaker when required. The S8 & S9 Milestones and Metrics Council Communication Thread will serve as the official communication channel for the council.

:thread: Forum Highlights

:magnifying_glass_tilted_right: What’s New in the Collective?

:date: Upcoming Calls

No official calls announced. Stay tuned in the Optimism Calendar for updates.

:blush: Are we missing something? Feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

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12

Optimism Gov Summary | August 15th – September 22nd

We’ll share the latest activity in the Collective. You’ll find:

  • Voting updates

  • Commissions & Councils updates

  • Forum highlights

  • What’s New in the Collective?

  • Upcoming Calls

Voting Updates

There’s an active vote on Agora, running until September 25th and part of Voting Cycle#42:

  • Maintenance Upgrade Proposal: U16a: This upgrade is a maintenance release that replaces U16, removes inactive interop withdrawal-proving code and introduces SystemConfig-based feature toggles for chain-specific configuration. It is optimistically approved and will proceed unless vetoed. Token House delegates, Citizens’ House members and chain operators have until September 25, 2025 to exercise their veto rights before execution.

Commissions & Councils Updates

:classical_building: Grants Council

  • Cycle 41 Grants Council Report: Cycle 41 closed the first Growth round of Season 8 with one approval: 40acres.finance was approved for 200,000 OP, seventeen other applications are still in review waiting for applicant feedback, and only one was declined. Almost 3M OP was requested this round, so there’s still plenty of budget left for future approvals. This was also the first time the Council ran the first fully continuous review process, introduced opgrants.io through the Karma GAP migration, and confirmed that the AI filter worked as intended.

Developer Advisory Board

:thread: Forum Highlights

  • An important update from the S8 Governance Fund Missions post is that “To widen the aperture and better align with the updated interop development timelines, the Foundation has decided to slightly adjust the success metrics for the second objective (”Grow TVL on the Superchain”). The two existing success metrics will remain but without the interop-specific focus. Instead of only prioritizing interop-ready TVL and interop transaction fees, progress towards this objective will now be evaluated based on generic TVL and total transaction fees. This shift aims to create optimal ecosystem conditions that will help interop thrive once it goes live. The proposed impact measurement methodology for S8 is detailed in this post. You can track timelines for upgrades 17 and 18 on the public roadmap.”
  • S7 ROI Summary & Learnings: Season 7 united the Collective around growing Superchain TVL and this post reviews how that goal played out: it summarizes the impact analyses on grants, Retro Funding, Futarchy, and Superstacks, surfaces challenges like attribution and cost tracking, and explains how these findings are shaping Season 8 through adjusted budgets, improved program design and transparency.
  • Season 7 Impact Analyses and Season 8 Budgeting: Grants, retro funding for developer tooling and onchain builders, and Futarchy v1 helped show how the ecosystem is evolving, with more insight into Foundation growth through Superstacks. These lessons carry into Season 8 with updated council budgets, the Developer Advisory Board and Security Council, and a new Collective Reward Framework to guide incentives.
  • Season 8: Budget Transparency Report: This report provides transparency into the Season 8 operating budget distribution. Season 8 allocated 4.44M OP across four councils with proportional reductions totaling 17,840 OP to stay within budget, using continuous Superfluid streaming payments through December 2025 while transferring more operational responsibility from Foundation to community members. Check the Operating Budget Dashboard.
  • Introducing improvements to the Protocol Upgrade process: since August 1, protocol upgrades are approved by the elected Developer Advisory Board and proceed automatically unless stakeholders veto them during a 1-week window. This gives delegates and Citizens meaningful oversight without requiring constant voting.

:magnifying_glass_tilted_right: What’s New in the Collective?

  • Season 8 kicks off with 182 builders rewarded through Retro Funding :clap:: 109 onchain apps and 79 dev tools. Read more here.
  • :sparkles: Superchain in August saw $21.8B in assets secured across 33 chains, 17 million daily transactions, and a median cost of just $0.0014: https://x.com/Optimism/status/1968352499192209749
  • :red_circle: Optimism is partnering with Flashbots to bring fast, configurable and verifiable sequencing to every OP Stack chain. This collaboration means near-instant confirmations with Flashblocks, more customizable block building and responsible MEV capture that keeps value in the ecosystem, all rolling out to OP Mainnet and the Superchain in the coming months. More details at Optimism Partners with Flashbots to Accelerate Sequencing for Every OP Stack Chain - Optimism
  • @Ronin_Network is coming home to Ethereum, choosing Optimism’s OP Stack to build Ethereum’s gamification engine :sparkles:

:date: Upcoming Calls

  • DAB Office Hours will be on Tuesday, September 23rd at 14:00 UTC.
  • Grants Council Office Hours will be on Wednesday, October 8th at 17:00 UTC.

Stay tuned in the Optimism Calendar for updates.

Are we missing something? Feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

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13

Optimism Gov Summary | September 22nd - October 15th

We’ll share the latest activity in the Collective. You’ll find:

  • Voting updates
  • Commissions & Councils updates
  • Forum highlights
  • What’s New in the Collective?
  • Opportunities for builders
  • Upcoming Calls

Voting Updates

Commissions & Councils Updates

:classical_building: Grants Council

  • Cycle 42 Grants Report: This cycle marked a larger round of funding compared to the previous one. 3 projects (PancakeSwap, Super DCA, and Truemarkets) were approved, while Curve Lending received a conditional pass, bringing the total to 950k OP allocated this round. In total, 1.073.300 OP have been allocated so far this season, with approximately 5.21M OP still available for the next cycles.

Developer Advisory Board

  • Cycle 42 Results - Season 8 Audit Grants : As in the previous cycle, the number of approved, pending, and rejected projects remained the same: 2 projects (Own Protocol and TrueMarkets) were approved for a total of 110.750 OP, while 2 proposals (Solo Chain and VII Finance) remain on hold and 8 were rejected. So far, there are allocated 234,050 OP (around 40% of the total), leaving 347.676,4 OP still available from the initial 581.726,4 OP budget for Season 8.

Security Council

  • Season 8: Security Council Elections - Cohort A and Lead: 21 members have applied this time to fill the seven seats in Cohort A, and there are three candidates for the Lead role. Both applications and approvals from top 100 delegates are being conducted directly on Atlas instead of the forum, as was done previously. The elections will be open from October 16 to 22.

:thread: Forum Highlights

  • Token House participation and incentives: Season 7 (Cycle 31a-38): This is the fourth participation report we’ve published since Season 3. It includes a detailed look at voting behavior, rationales, and forum interactions among the Top 100 delegates, analyzed in light of the structural changes introduced in Season 7 and compared with previous seasons. Participation saw a small improvement, with 49 of the Top 100 delegates voting on average per proposal, even as the number of rationales (–22%) and forum comments (–25%) declined. Governance spending reached 1.055.000 OP, marking a 38 % increase from Season 6. This rise was mainly driven by the transfer of Security Council expenses to the governance fund and higher costs for the Developer Advisory Board, while the Grants Council and the newly created Milestones & Metrics Council operated with budgets roughly in line with previous seasons.After reviewing the numbers, it becomes clear that the introduction of optimistic approvals has helped streamline coordination and reduce friction in governance. At the same time, the DAO continues to move toward greater transparency and clearer accountability, adapting its structure as responsibilities consolidate and processes mature. We invite you to read the report and share your feedback.
  • govNERDs Office Hours: The Office Hours are back — now rebranded as govNERDS Office Hours, led by @alexsotodigital.
  • Karma Funding Platform updates: Mahesh presented a brief report and status update on the progress being made with the platform currently used by the Grants Council and soon to be adopted by the M&M Council.

:magnifying_glass_tilted_right: What’s New in the Collective?

  • Flashblocks are now live on OP Mainnet
  • OP is now available on RobinhoodApp, more here.
  • Great video by Optimism co-founder Ben , where he explains how Optimism, @base, @inkonchain , @Soneium, @unichain and others are growing together the Superchain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-iK3GKpeN8&t=3s
  • Superchain stats are optimistic: $21.7B secured across 32 chains, including @base, @build_on_bob, @inkonchain, OP Mainnet, @Soneium, @unichain, @world_chain_, and others. With 20M+ daily transactions and $5.7B in stablecoins onchain.
  • Velodrome just surpassed $10B in volume YTD on OP Mainnet, that’s ~$1B per month locking in 25%+ growth year-over-year.
  • State of superchain by Messari: Excellent report on the state of the Superchain in the first half of 2025. It offers a data-driven overview of the ecosystem’s performance, covering OP market trends, sequencer revenue, and governance activity. The report highlights that OP’s market cap fell ~58% following a 67.6% price drop, while sequencer revenue reached 48.4 million USD, largely driven by Base (87% share) reflecting both the network’s growth and its current economic concentration.
  • Retro Funding September results: 184 builders + 109 onchain applications +79 devtooling projects
  • :sparkles: Superchain networks built on the OP Stack now secure 42% of all L2 TVL :sparkles: , $6.9 B across OP Mainnet, Base, Inco, Soneium, Unichain, and others. Watch it here.

Opportunities for builders

Both Governance Fund Mission Requests were proposed by the DAB:

:date: Upcoming Calls

  • DAB Office Hours will be on Tuesday, October 21.
  • govNERDs Office Hours will be on Tuesday, October 28.
  • Grants Council Office Hours will be on Wednesday, October 29.

Stay tuned in the Optimism Calendar for updates.

Are we missing something? Feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

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