Optimism Gov Summary

Updates and Announcements 📢 Governance Updates
8

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)
  • Budget Board Advisory Proposal for Retro Funding for Seasons 8 and 9
    • The Budget Board is providing a current draft proposal for community review, recommending a budget of 87M OP (~ 19,893 ETH) for Retro Funding over the next year (Seasons 8/9).
    • This represents a +10% increase in ETH terms versus last year’s spend and a 99% increase in OP terms.

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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