Optimism Gov Summary

Updates and Announcements 📢 Governance Updates
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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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