Optimism sheds 10% following 11M token airdrop

Layer-2 network Optimism airdropped 11.7 million tokens to over 300,000 wallets on Feb. 9, increasing its OP token circulating supply to 234.74 million.

Following the news, the OP token fell by 13% in the last 24 hours to $2.33 as of press time, according to CryptoSlate data.

OP is one of the best-performing digital assets year-to-date, rising by over 200% since Jan. 1. Its positive price performance saw it reach a new all-time high (ATH) of $3.20 on Feb. 3.

Optimism’s airdrop

According to a Feb. 9 statement, the airdrop’s intent is to reward “positive-sum governance participation and power users of Optimism Mainnet.”

The scaling solution said the airdrop was part of a broader plan to distribute 19% of its initial governance token supply. Its first airdrop in May 2022 distributed over 200 million tokens — roughly 5% of its initial governance token supply.

Eligible users for the recent airdrop included those who have spent more than $6.10 on gas since Mar. 25, 2022 and those who delegated the voting power of their OP tokens.

According to Dune analytics data, the average amount airdropped to its users was $38.13, while the maximum amount was $10,462.

Meanwhile, the transaction volume on the L2 network has ranged between 160,000 – 200,000 since falling from ATH of 800,000.