Welcome to the Optimism Collective

The Optimism Collective is a band of companies, communities, and citizens working together to reward public goods and build a sustainable future for Ethereum. Below is the Foundation's vision for how the Collective will work together to build the Superchain.

Superchain Product Vision

The Foundation's product vision for the Superchain outlines the core characteristics of the product the entire Optimism Collective is building together. This means...

• Standardization of chains enables decentralization and composability at scale
• The Superchain starts as 15-50 chains that feel like one, and scales to 1000+
• Governance protects the security of the Superchain
• Governance creates a flywheel of sustainable growth and development

Review the full Superchain Product Vision here (opens in a new tab).

Impact=Profit

The Optimism Collective is bound by a mutually beneficial pact that can be summed up with the axiom Impact=Profit.

The Optimism Collective's mission is to create an internet that benefits all and is owned by none. To do so, the Collective is creating a new economic paradigm, where impact is rewarded. The Collective calls this future Ether’s Phoenix (opens in a new tab).

Governance Overview

The Optimism Collective and the Superchain take an experimental and agile approach to governance, relentlessly iterating towards a system which stands the test of time.

The Collective's model of digital democratic governance consists of two houses: the Token House and the Citizens' House. These two houses form a bicameral governance system, with the two-house design intended to help the Collective make better decisions, avoid common pitfalls in token-based governance systems, and have checks and balances.

What is described here is an initial experiment. The specifics of this system will evolve as the Collective grows.

Token House

Governance of the Optimism Collective began with the launch of the OP token and the Token House.

As Token House members, OP holders are responsible for submitting, deliberating, and voting on various types of governance proposals. In carrying out these functions, OP holders may either vote directly, or delegate their OP voting power to someone else (opens in a new tab).

The Token House votes on on the proposal types outlined in the Operating Manual (opens in a new tab).

You can learn more in the Token House section.

Citizens' House

The Citizens' House is a large-scale experiment in reputation-based, one person = one vote governance, and is responsible for Retroactive Public Goods Funding (Retro Funding) (opens in a new tab).

Retro Funding is the primary economic engine for the Collective, rewarding those who create positive impact across the Collective and the Superchain. Retro Funding is based on the simple idea that it’s easier to agree on what was useful in the past than what might be useful in the future.

For more information about the Citizens' House, view the Citizens' House section.

For details about Retro Funding and future Retro Funding Rounds, visit retrofunding.optimism.io (opens in a new tab).

For details around identity and reputation in the Citizens' House, view identity and reputation section.

How do these houses work together?

The Token House and the Citizens House work together to ensure the Collective achieves its vision.

You can find a more detailed breakdown of responsibilities in this diagram.

You can find more information about the The Future of Optimism Governance here (opens in a new tab).

Governing Documents

The Collective's Working Constitution

The Working Constitution (opens in a new tab) outlines governing provisions and principles for the Collective. It was adopted in April, 2022.

The Collective's Operating Manual

The Collective’s Operating Manual (opens in a new tab) describes current governance processes for the Token House. It will evolve, with the Collective, over time. The version linked here, from The Optimism Foundation's github repository (opens in a new tab), is the authoritative one.

Decentralization Models

Decentralization Milestone Working Model

The Optimism Decentralization Milestone Working Model (opens in a new tab) is a working model that demonstrates the Foundation’s thinking about the major decentralization milestones, their dependencies, and the work necessary to be done to move from one phase to the next. This model is directional, rather than prescriptive.

Decision Diagram Working Model

The Optimism Decision Diagram Working Model (opens in a new tab) is a working model of the full decision making surface area of Optimism governance, demonstrating how these decisions interrelate and providing a framework for how these decisions might be designed. This diagram represents the full self-managing system in the end state. This diagram is advisory in nature, and is not prescriptive.