Last-Minute Vote by Optimism-Backed Team Shifts $50 Million Airdrop to Foundation Fund

In Optimism governance, the transfer of approximately $49.7 million worth of user airdrop allocations—part of the 546.9 million OP representing 12.7% of the total supply—to a Foundation-managed fund was approved by a last-minute decisive vote.

In the Optimism Collective vote, the proposal called for incorporating the 546.9 million OP reserved for user airdrops into the Strategic Ecosystem Fund, to be managed by the Optimism Foundation. The fund is intended for use in partnerships, incentives, and corporate agreements to increase OP Mainnet and Enterprise adoption.

The vote concluded with 17,974,000 OP in favor and 10,931,000 OP against. With 16 minutes and 52 seconds remaining, the 8,486,000 OP vote cast by Test in Prod pushed the approval rate from 45.77% to 61.84%. Had this vote not been counted, the rate would have remained at 46.47%; although the proposal met the quorum, it would not have been approved, and the tokens would have remained in the user allocation.

Test in Prod’s Vote Shifts the Direction of OP Funds

Test in Prod is described on its Agora profile as a core development team funded by the Optimism Collective. During its 2025 Security Council candidacy, the team stated it was fully funded by the Collective and secured a new 12-month term on the Optimism Security Council in June.

The Optimism Foundation argued that large-scale user airdrops do not align with its institutional adoption strategy. The Foundation stated it would disclose fund expenditures collectively in annual budget reports. While L2BEAT objected to the open-ended authority and the vague value link for token holders, Polynya and other researchers criticized the lack of deal-by-deal auditing.

Test in Prod, on the other hand, argued that proposal processes in the enterprise market require confidentiality and competition, and that Optimism should utilize this fund without delay. The team also requested the Foundation to disclose the total usage and results of the fund at a later date. Voting power was determined based on the snapshot recorded at block number 155,526,433 on August 13.