March 31st marked the day when Optimism launched its OP token. And the friendly people running that network decided that it should reward its OG users with a free giveaway. Read on below to find out what the Optimism blockchain is and if you can claim some free OP tokens.
We’ve written about Optimism before at DappRadar, and we know the power and potential of the network. So when we heard they were giving away their new OP token, for free, we thought we’d tell our community how to get involved.
What is Optimism and OP?
Optimism is a layer 2 EVM-compatible blockchain that is supposed to make Ethereum transactions cheaper and faster than they currently are. The blockchain is an Optimistic Roll-Up (ORU), which means it piggy-backs off the parent blockchain, in this case Ethereum.
Back in March, DappRadar began integrating data from the Optimism blockchain for our one million monthly visitors to analyze dapps across web3 as effectively as possible. We track over 38 dapps that use the blockchain and we’ll be adding more in the future as they come online.
Some big players in the DeFi and decentralized exchange (DEX) space use the Optimism blockchain for transactions. Uniswap V3 and 1inch Network are two platforms in particular that get lots of traffic and have big user numbers.
The OP token, the native currency of the layer 2 network, went live on March 31st. And as with all the best launches, it was accompanied by an airdrop.
OP tokens are currently trading at $1.35 and the fully diluted value sits at $5.79 billion. This is a serious token on a serious network that has genuinely made an impact in a busy and competitive industry.
Free OP for everyone sounds too good to be true. But details have been released about how to get your free OP tokens today.
How to claim your free OP
Here’s a simple guide to claiming your free OP now:
- Check your eligibility using this link.
- Add Optimism to your METAMASK wallet using your preferred method and connect to the network.
- If you’re eligible, you’ll be able to claim your OP tokens after going through a few simple steps.
- You need to answer three questions, confirm you accept the working constitution. Then you’ll need to delegate your tokens before claiming the airdrop.
Here’s the criteria you need to hit in order to be eligible for the free OP airdrop:
- Long-term Optimism users who’ve bridged to Optimism from layer 1 during the early phases of mainnet. Or, you need to have used Optimism for more than one day and made a transaction on it using an app.
- If you’re a DAO voter who’s voted on or authored at least one proposal on-chain.
- Are you a Gitcoin donor? If so, you are eligible.
- Users priced out of Ethereum. If you have bridged to Terra, BSC, Fantom, Avalanche, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Metis or Boba, you may be in line for an airdrop.
The easiest way to check if you’re eligible is to go to the link above and connect your wallet. Optimism will tell you immediately whether or not you will get your free OP.
