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Layer 2 scaling solution Optimism launches its native token and initiates an airdrop, with Binance delaying the spot listing time twice.

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Layer 2 scaling solution Optimism launches its native token and initiates an airdrop, with Binance delaying the spot listing time twice.

The Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution Optimism has finally launched its token and initiated an airdrop after much anticipation, causing a surge in on-chain activities that briefly led to delays in the mainnet RPC endpoints.

Apply for Airdrop

Connect your MetaMask wallet on the official website to check if you qualify for the airdrop. The video below also provides a tutorial. Relevant URLs:

This is the first wave of airdrop by Optimism, called "OP Drop #1." The official team acknowledged the confusion in the process and learned from it to apply in Drop #2. The data for the first airdrop is as follows:

  • Token Price: 1.67
  • Market Cap Rank: 136
  • 41.11% claimed
  • Qualified Addresses: 248,699
  • Total Supply: 4,294,967,296
  • Drop #1 represents 5% of the total supply = 214,748,365

Process of "OP Drop #1"

1. Removal of Wash Trading Addresses

After the coin issuance boom in DeFi, projects have become more stringent on "airdrop qualification." Therefore, Optimism announced on 5/24 that they had removed 17,000 wash trading addresses, meaning addresses intentionally inflating volume, and redistributed 14 million tokens for Drop #1.

2. RPC Delay

Optimism stated on Twitter that due to not including a pause function in their contract deployment, some users began claiming tokens immediately after deployment. They then deployed the frontend page for claiming tokens and prepared to make an announcement.

Optimism underestimated the load airdrops would put on RPC endpoints, causing users to be unable to claim, trade OP tokens, or access Optimism due to reduced RPC performance.

Note: RPC is a communication protocol that allows interaction with protocols like MetaMask.

Initially, the team chose to shut down the claiming frontend to reduce RPC load. However, they were concerned that users might fall victim to scammers releasing custom frontend airdrop pages. Optimism reopened the claiming page, but did not announce it again to avoid high loads.

Optimism reassured that missing the first airdrop should not be regretted and emphasized that there will be more airdrops to support projects in the ecosystem.

As of now, the OP token is listed on the following exchanges, with Binance delaying the listing on the spot market for the second time and expected to list on 6/1 at 16:00: