In 2025, Retro Funding sharpens its focus on data-driven impact measurement, using targeted Missions to develop robust methods for evaluating specific types of contributions.
The Retro Funding Missions from S7, Onchain Builders and Dev Tooling, will continue in S8. In addition, we propose expanding the program’s scope to include a new Mission focused on OP Stack dependencies, ensuring sustained support for critical infrastructure.
OpenSource Observer will continue leading the evaluation algorithm development, more details on the Retro Funding governance process can be found here [to be linked] .
Onchain Builders
Retro Funding: Onchain Builders rewards application developers for their contributions to Superchain growth and interop adoption.
- Expected impact on the Intent: Drive Superchain activity and interop adoption by rewarding application developers for their impact on the Superchain.
- Eligibility: Projects are eligible who have deployed their own contracts on eligible OP Chains
- Evaluation Algorithm: The Evaluation Algorithm will be an iteration of what has been used in S7. You can find in-depth documentation on S7 Evaluation Algorithms here. The following categories of impact will be rewarded:
- General contract activity: Application developers will be rewarded for building and maintaining popular applications on the Superchain. Activity will be measured within the categories of TVL, Transaction activity, Gas fees contributions and monthly active users.
This category will make up the majority of reward allocation. - Interop: Once interop is live, the program will have dedicated incentives for application developers who have integrated interop functionality. To enable this, a percentage of the budget will be reserved for interop.
- Uniswap Hook Builders: Reward Uniswap hook builders for driving activity across the Superchain, and hooks that support interop. Part of the budget will be reserved for this category, and will be allocated based on the impact of participating hook builders.
- General contract activity: Application developers will be rewarded for building and maintaining popular applications on the Superchain. Activity will be measured within the categories of TVL, Transaction activity, Gas fees contributions and monthly active users.
- Measurement Date: Monthly, starting in August. Rewards will be delivered on a monthly basis.
Strategic Rationale
- Drives Superchain Usage and Growth: Onchain applications are the primary driver of transactions, gas fees, and user activity. Retro Funding rewards the builders behind these apps, aligning their incentives with the Superchain’s long-term success.
- Accelerates Interop Adoption: By recognizing builders who integrate interop functionality, Retro Funding provides targeted incentives for widespread interop adoption.
- Builds long term alignment: Instead of relying on short-term grants or mercenary capital, Retro Funding offers builders a durable stream of rewards tied to real usage.
Dev Tooling
Retro Funding: Dev Tooling rewards toolchain software, such as compilers, libraries and debuggers, that support builders in developing onchain applications on the Superchain.
- Expected impact on the Intent: Improve the builder experience leading to more successful applications on the Superchain
- Eligibility: Eligible projects include those that have created an open source repository and/or package that is used by builders on the Superchain
- Evaluation Algorithm: Rewards Dev Tools based on their usage by onchain builders. The Evaluation Algorithm will be an iteration of the Evaluation Algorithm used in S7. A key priority for S8 will be to extend the scope of this program to include OS Dev Tools used by OP Chains, such as block explorers.
- Measurement Date: Monthly, starting in August and ending in January. Rewards will be delivered on a monthly basis.
Strategic Rationale
- Enables Developer-Led Growth: OS Dev Tooling is the foundation of the Superchain’s developer experience. Retro Funding ensures open source tools like libraries and debuggers remain well-maintained and composable.
- Corrects a Clear Market Failure: These tools are essential to the ecosystem but lack direct monetization paths. Retro Funding solves this by rewarding impact retroactively, allowing builders to focus on utility instead of monetization.
- Strengthens the Platform: Supporting OSS complements prevents vendor lock-in by closed source alternatives, compounds innovation, and reduces reliance on top-down grants—making the Superchain more open, resilient, and scalable.
OP Stack dependencies
Retro Funding: OP Stack Dependencies rewards critical software dependencies that underpin the OP Stack — with an initial emphasis on Ethereum Core Development.
- Intent Impact: Maintain and improve OP Stack performance by ensuring upstream infrastructure sustainability.
- Eligibility: Projects that are direct dependencies of the OP Stack, with a focus on Ethereum Core Development.
- Evaluation Algorithm: The Evaluation Algorithm will aim to measure the importance of different dependencies to the OP Stack. Design work on the algorithm will kick off in the following months.
- Measurement Cadence: Monthly, starting October 2025.
Strategic Rationale
- Reinforces Ethereum Alignment: Supporting Ethereum Core Development reinforces Optimism’s positioning as the most Ethereum-aligned L2. This alignment has historically influenced developer preference: Many contributors chose Optimism precisely because of this demonstrated alignment. Historically, Retroactive Public Goods Funding has rewarded Ethereum Core Contributions since the very beginning of the program in 2021.
In a climate where some perceive L2s as “extractive to Ethereum”, continued rewards of L1 R&D signals that Optimism is a positive sum player in the ecosystem. - Strengthens the Superchain: Ethereum serves as the data availability and security layer of the Superchain. Previous rewards for L1 R&D contributions, such as EIP-4844 in Retro Funding 2, has improved downstream scalability and cost-efficiency. Moreover, OP Stack implementations (e.g. OP-Geth) rely directly on Ethereum clients and standards. Failing to support this upstream infrastructure constitutes a market failure: the Superchain consumes Ethereum resources but contributes minimally to the development of its underlying infrastructure.
