Optimism On The Road To Decentralization

Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Optimism is set to update its governance system for the second time this year — this time, with the intent of becoming more decentralized.

In a blog post on Friday, the Optimism team said the changes taking effect Aug. 1 as part of the “Season 8” revamp will introduce stakeholder voting, a public definition of citizenship and an auto-pass process for proposals. 

“The goal has always been to create a governance model designed for a new internet; now we understand that means lowering platform risk by creating accountability where corporate governance models have failed to do so,” the team said. 

The previous season, which lasted from Jan. 16 to June 11, was focused on interoperability.

OP governance aims to reduce platform risk

The Optimism team said it has created four stakeholder groups: tokenholders, end-users, apps and chains, to ensure all can vote on governance proposals. 

“Season 8 takes steps to ensure governance is accountable to all major stakeholders of the Collective, not just financial ones, a key weakness of traditional corporate and crypto governance models,” the team said. 

“The goal is to reduce the platform risk that any one stakeholder dominates decision making at the expense of others.” 

Citizenship still in experimentation stage 

Two houses govern Optimism: the Token House and the Citizens’ House. The Citizens House, introduced in April 2022, allows one vote per citizen. 

The Token House can vote on issues such as protocol upgrades, sequencer selection and governance fund allocation through token-weighted votes. 

Tokenholders will continue to be represented as a key stakeholder group via a token-weighted voting model in the Token House.

Optimism now also has a public definition of citizenship verifiable onchain and has subdivided it into three categories: end-users, apps and chains. 

However, the team also said citizenship “remains an experiment” at this point, and current citizenship doesn’t guarantee it in future updates. 

Proposals auto-pass unless a stakeholder vetoes

A new approval process will also take effect in August, where most will follow “an optimistic approval process,” which allows it to auto-pass unless a stakeholder vetoes.

The goal is to ensure busy contributors can still keep the system in check without full-time politics, according to the Optimism team. 

Related: ASTR becomes OP Superchain’s first interoperable token via Chainlink CCIP

“Participating in governance should not require spending hours reading forum posts and navigating complex bureaucracy. Being a governance participant should not be a full time, or part time, job,” they said. 

Resource budgets will be proposed by the budget board and passed unless vetoed as well. Protocol upgrades are going to be voted on by an independent developer advisory board, which will act on behalf of both the Token House and the Citizens’ House.

Magazine: MegaETH launch could save Ethereum… but at what cost?