Optimism is a low-cost and lightning-fast Ethereum L2 blockchain. Optimism is designed to be as simple as possible for the featureset it provides. Ideally, Optimism should be composed of the minimum number of moving parts required for a secure, scalable, and flexible L2 system. This simplicity gives Optimism's design a number of significant advantages over other more complex L2 constructions.

All Optimism blocks are stored within a special smart contract on Ethereum called the CanonicalTransactionChain (or CTC for short). Optimism blocks are held within an append-only list inside of the CTC. This append-only list forms the Optimism blockchain.

OP is the token for the Optimism Collective that governs the Optimism L2 blockchain. The Optimism Collective is a large-scale experiment in digital democratic governance, built to drive rapid and sustainable growth of a decentralized ecosystem, and stewarded by the newly formed Optimism Foundation. OP governs upgrades to the protocol and network parameters, and creates an ongoing system of incentives for projects and users in the Optimism ecosystem. 5.4% of the total token supply will be distributed to projects on Optimism over the next six months via governance. If you're building something in the Ethereum ecosystem, you can consider applying for the grant.