Optimism, a Layer 2 network, has announced its fourth airdrop initiative, which is specifically tailored to reward web3 artists. According to an official statement, the airdrop has distributed 10,343,757.81 OP tokens, valued at approximately $40.8 million, to 22,998 different addresses. Users are granted the opportunity to claim these tokens until February 13, 2025.
In a message featured on the airdrop claim page, Optimism expressed appreciation for artists, stating, “A great society needs artists.” The initiative serves as a gesture of gratitude towards artists for their ability to infuse creativity into the blockchain space. Optimism emphasized the significant role that artists play within the Optimism Collective, acknowledging their contributions as integral to the network’s vibrant ecosystem.
The fourth airdrop
Individuals who engaged in creating NFT art between January 10, 2023, and January 10, 2024, either on the Ethereum mainnet or Optimism’s Superchain—an interconnected series of Layer 2 networks—were deemed eligible for participation in the airdrop initiative.
The airdrop rewarded NFT creators based on the amount of gas expended by other users during the minting or trading of their NFTs. In essence, the popularity of the NFT project determined the extent of rewards for the NFT creator. For instance, if a user’s NFTs generated 1 ETH worth of gas on Optimism’s Superchain, they received 5,000 OP tokens, while the same gas expenditure on the Ethereum mainnet earned them 50 OP tokens. The maximum reward per address was capped at 6,000 OP tokens, equivalent to approximately $23,640.
Moreover, users had the opportunity to augment their token allocations by 50% or even multiply them by 1.5 through bonus eligibility criteria. These criteria encompassed actions such as creating an NFT contract before January 10, 2023, having an NFT they created transferred after November 11, 2023, maintaining activity on the Superchain since November 11, 2023, or if collectors expended more than 0.0005 ETH to transfer one of their NFTs since July 14, 2023. The degree of increase depended on the number of qualifying bonus activities undertaken.
Optimism conducted its first airdrop on May 31, 2022, followed by a second on February 8, 2023, and a third on September 13, 2023. According to a report by The Block, the third airdrop disbursed 19.4 million OP tokens, valued at $26 million at the time, to nearly 32,000 addresses that participated in the delegation activities of the Optimism Collective, the platform’s DAO.
On the social media platform X, Optimism disclosed that it retains approximately 560 million OP tokens for forthcoming airdrop events. “Multiple drops allow us to refine this mechanism, fostering positive-sum behavior,” Optimism emphasized, highlighting the collaborative and beneficial nature of the airdrop strategy.
Op Token
The OP token trades at $3.94 at 1:47 p.m. ET on Feb. 20, after seeing a 0.71% increase in the past 24 hours, according to The Block’s Price page for the token. OP has a circulating supply of 957.4 million and total supply of 4.3 billion.
