Optimism's token, OP, started 8 September 2026 at about $0.1105 (CoinGecko, 00:00 UTC). That was 18% above its level a week earlier and about 25% above its level 30 days earlier. The rally began in the days around the OP governance vote that executed on 23 August 2026. The vote moved the remaining 546.9 million OP of the user airdrop allocation into a new Strategic Ecosystem Fund run by the Optimism Foundation. Even after the move, OP sat roughly 98% below its all-time high of $4.84.
Update, 25 October 2026: CoinGecko shows OP at about $0.111. Its market capitalisation was about $255 million, and the price was down 11.8% over the previous seven days.
The newest development: 546.9M OP re-designated
Optimism governance passed a proposal titled "Re-designating the User Airdrop Allocation as the Strategic Ecosystem Fund". The Optimism governance portal lists it as executed at 11:30 on 23 August 2026.
- Amount: 546.9 million OP, which the proposal describes as the amount "remaining in the User Airdrop allocation".
- Vote: 17,973,915 OP for and 10,930,696 against. The quorum was 16,540,389 and the approval threshold 51%.
- Stated uses: partnership deals that bring chains, protocols, institutions and infrastructure to the OP Stack, incentives for onchain activity and liquidity on OP Mainnet, and deals with institutions and large brands under OP Enterprise.
Cointelegraph reported the approval on 20 August 2026. According to that report, Optimism had already distributed 269.1 million OP across five airdrop rounds and plans no further airdrops. Some delegates objected that the tokens had been "promised to users" and asked how the Foundation would measure returns. Supporters said the fund would help Optimism compete for enterprise deals. Cointelegraph valued the 546.9 million OP at about $50 million at the time, close to a quarter of OP's market capitalisation.
What it changes for holders
Holders no longer have any reason to expect future OP airdrops from this allocation. The tokens now sit in a discretionary Foundation fund instead. How fast the Foundation spends them on partnerships and incentives will affect how much new OP reaches the market. The proposal sets no spending schedule, so that rate cannot be known yet.
What did OP's move add up to?
Enter OP's price at the start and end of any window in the article's CoinGecko table to see the percentage change.
| OP price at the start of the window (00:00 UTC) | OP price at the end of the window (00:00 UTC) | Price change over the window |
|---|---|---|
| 0.09364 USD | 0.1105 USD | 18 % |
| 0.08866 USD | 0.1105 USD | 24.6 % |
| 0.08202 USD | 0.1122 USD | 36.8 % |
- Prices are your inputs; the defaults and examples are CoinGecko daily prices at 00:00 UTC quoted in the article (1 Sep to 8 Sep, 9 Aug to 8 Sep, 19 Aug to 24 Aug).
- At a price near $0.11, a one-cent difference between the two inputs is already about 9%, so small dollar moves show up as large percentages.
This only works out the change between two prices you enter: it misses moves within the day and shows nothing about supply from the 546.9M OP fund. It does not show why the price moved and does not predict where OP goes next.
Price, 9 August to 8 September 2026
Daily prices at 00:00 UTC, from CoinGecko:
| Date (UTC) | OP price (USD) |
|---|---|
| 9 Aug | 0.08866 |
| 19 Aug | 0.08202 |
| 20 Aug | 0.08993 |
| 24 Aug | 0.1122 |
| 31 Aug | 0.08644 |
| 1 Sep | 0.09364 |
| 4 Sep | 0.1017 |
| 7 Sep | 0.1102 |
| 8 Sep | 0.1105 |
| 9 Sep | 0.1053 |
- Seven days to 8 September: +18.0% (0.09364 to 0.1105).
- 30 days to 8 September: +24.6% (0.08866 to 0.1105).
- Around the vote: OP rose 36.8%, from 0.08202 on 19 August to 0.1122 on 24 August. It then gave back most of that gain by 31 August before climbing again in the first week of September. The data show only the timing. They do not show that the vote caused either move.
- Market capitalisation: about $242.2 million on 9 September 2026 (CoinGecko). Cointelegraph cited about 2.29 billion OP in circulation in August.
- All-time high: $4.84 (CoinGecko). Several price aggregators date it to 6 March 2024.
How to read a week like this
- At a price of about $0.11, a one-cent move is roughly 9%. Low-priced tokens can post large percentage swings on small dollar moves.
- Daily 00:00 UTC prices miss moves within the day. A snapshot taken at another hour can give a different weekly change.
- Supply matters as much as price. The 546.9M OP now sits in a Foundation fund, and CoinGecko lists a maximum supply of about 4.295 billion OP. Check the Optimism governance portal for how the fund is spent.
Limitations: the price figures come from a single data provider (CoinGecko), and the vote details come from the Optimism governance portal and one news report. This is not investment advice, and crypto assets can lose most of their value.
