The Optimism Foundation, a key player in the development and maintenance of the Optimism network, recently announced the sale of approximately 19.5 million OP tokens in a private transaction to an undisclosed buyer. The tokens, which were sold for nearly $90 million at current prices, were sourced from the unallocated portion of the OP Token treasury that was originally earmarked for working capital.
According to a statement released by the foundation on Friday, the buyer of the tokens will be subject to a two-year lockup period. However, they will have the option to delegate the tokens to third parties not affiliated with the foundation for participation in governance decisions, providing them with the same benefits as an unvested holder.
The sale of these tokens represents a significant portion of the foundation’s original working budget, which was set at 30% of the initial OP token supply. As of Friday, the circulating supply of OP tokens stood at 1 billion, with a total supply of 4.29 billion.
Despite the sale of the tokens, OP prices experienced a slight decline of 0.4% in the past 24 hours. In contrast, The 20, a broad-based liquid index of various tokens, saw an increase of 2.59% during the same period.
The news of the token sale comes at a time when the cryptocurrency market is experiencing heightened volatility and regulatory scrutiny. The Optimism Foundation’s decision to sell a significant portion of its token supply to an undisclosed buyer reflects the growing interest in blockchain technology and decentralized finance.
For more information on the private token sale conducted by the Optimism Foundation, you can visit the official article on Coindesk at https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/03/08/optimism-sells-89m-op-tokens-in-private-transaction/.