Optimism votes to approve highly contested OP buyback program

Executives at Optimism Collective have officially passed a proposal that commits 50% of Superchain sequencer revenue to buy back the company’s OP token. 

The buyback strategy will start in February and make use of over-the-counter (OTC) providers to convert the Ethereum from the sequencer into OP.

The Optimism Collective buyback strategy

The Optimism Collective has officially passed a proposal that had an 84.4% approval rating. The proposal is called OP-0017 and allows the Optimism Foundation to use half of all net profits generated by the Superchain sequencer to buy back OP tokens. The program is a 12-month pilot scheduled to begin in February 2026.

Under the approved plan, the Foundation will partner with an over-the-counter (OTC) provider to execute monthly conversions of Ethereum (ETH) into OP. These repurchased tokens will be held in the Collective treasury, and their final use, which could be staking rewards, ecosystem grants, or potential future burns, will be determined by community votes.

Cryptopolitan recently reported that the Optimism (OP) token hit a record low of $0.2519 in December 2025, leading to this “revenue-sharing” model.

Over the past year, the Superchain generated approximately 5,868 ETH in revenue. At current market valuations, the 50% allocation would represent roughly $8 million in annual buyback pressure, but conversions will pause if monthly revenue falls below $200,000.

Optimism is scheduled to unlock 31.34 million OP tokens on January 31, which accounts for approximately 1.62% of the circulating supply and is valued at roughly $9 million based on current prices.

Are buybacks effective?

By aggregating fees from dozens of chains built on the OP Stack, Optimism is betting that total volume will provide a more stable revenue base than any single network could achieve alone.

The company recently released a 10-year post-quantum roadmap showing its plans to phase out traditional wallet signatures by January 2036 to protect the Superchain against future threats from quantum computing.

Jupiter co-founder Siong Ong recently challenged the protocol’s $70 million buyback, noting that it failed to move the JUP price during the massive 2025–2026 token unlocks. Helium (HNT) also began to focus on operational expansion after finding buybacks ineffective.

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