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All OP tokenholders, a key stakeholder group, are represented in governance via the Token House. The Token House uses token-weighted voting, giving influence proportional to OP token holdings. Tokenholders may vote themselves or assign their voting power to a “delegate.” The primary role of tokenholders is to express their financial interest in the evolution of the Superchain and to hold proposers accountable. Tokenholders may vote on:Protocol UpgradesDelegates have the power to veto decisions about protocol upgrades made by the Developer Advisory Board (DAB). This veto power serves as a critical check on technical changes, with the aim of ensuring they align with the interests of those who rely on the protocol.Capital AllocationDelegates participate in resource allocation decisions, including:
  • Approving the Collective Intent, missions, and budget
  • Approving Governance Fund proposals
Representative ElectionsDelegates elect members to the Councils and Boards and/or approve any alternative selection mechanismsRatificationDelegates may ratify core governing documents.For a full description of the voting mechanics for each of these proposal types, please refer to the Operating Manual. In future phases, the Token House may gain additional governance powers.
Unlock Your Voting PowerOP token holders are able to vote on some of the most important decisions for the Collective. This empowers one of the Collective’s key stakeholders to have a say in the development of the system.You can either vote yourself with your OP tokens, or you can delegate the voting power of your OP tokens to someone else to make decisions on your behalf.Get started at vote.optimism.io/delegates
Users, Apps, and Chains, key stakeholder groups, are represented in governance via the Citizens’ House. The Citizens’ House uses a ‘1 member, 1 vote’ model, so all members have the same level of influence. The primary role of Citizens is to express their preferences in the evolution of the Superchain and to hold proposers accountable. Citizens may vote on:

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Protocol Upgrades

Citizens have the power to veto decisions about protocol upgrades made by the Developer Advisory Board (DAB). This veto power serves as a critical check on technical changes, ensuring they align with the interests of those who rely on the protocol.

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Resource Allocation

Citizens participate in resource allocation decisions, including:
  • Approving the Collective Intent, missions, and budget

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Representative Elections

Citizens elect representatives to the Developer Advisory Board, ensuring it remains accountable to their interests.

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Ratification

Citizens may ratify core governing documents.For a full description of the voting mechanics for each of these proposal types, please refer to the Operating Manual. In future phases, the Citizens’ House may gain additional governance powers.

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Eligibility Framework and Principles

The Citizens’ House relies on a carefully designed eligibility framework aimed at achieving representation from key stakeholders in the Superchain ecosystem. This framework is built on the following principles:1.Those who are most impacted by Protocol Upgrades should have governance power over them2.Those who contribute most to shared resources should have a voice in the governance of those shared resourcesEligibility criteria include three distinct stakeholder groups within the Citizens’ House:1.Chains2.Onchain Applications3.Superchain End-Users

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Citizenship Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility is recalculated at the beginning of every Season, and criteria are subject to change.

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Chain Citizens

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Eligibility Criteria in Season 9

Chains are eligible to vote in the Citizens’ House if they meet either of these criteria:
  • Account for at least 2% of the total revenue share contributed by all chains in the past Season
  • Are among the top 15 chains by revenue contribution in the past Season
Eligibility for Season 9 is calculated based on activity from 01 August 2025 - 31 December 2025. This approach aims to give chains with significant economic stake in the ecosystem a voice in governance, while the minimum number of seats (15) should mean broad representation even if revenue becomes concentrated.

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App Citizens

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Eligibility Criteria

Onchain applications are eligible to join the Citizens’ House if they meet either of these criteria:
  • Are responsible for at least 0.5% of the total gas used across the Superchain over the past Season
  • Are among the top 100 apps by gas usage in the past Season
Eligibility for Season 9 is calculated based on activity from 01 August 2025 - 31 December 2025 based on contract data registered by projects in OP Atlas. Projects/contracts not registered in OP Atlas cannot be considered at this time. This approach aims to give applications driving significant activity on the Superchain a voice in governance, while the minimum number of seats (100) should mean broad representation from the application ecosystem.

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End-user Citizens

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Eligibility Criteria

Individual end-users are eligible to join the Citizens’ House if they meet all of these criteria:
  • Had their first Superchain transaction before June 1, 2024
  • Have at least 2 Superchain transactions each month in at least 3 distinct months from 01 August 2025 - 31 December 2025
  • Can provide proof of personhood through World ID or Passport
To check the eligibility of your address, navigate to atlas.optimism.io/citizenship and link the address to your Atlas profile. These criteria are designed so that Citizens will be genuine, active users of the Superchain with sustained engagement over time, rather than one-time or sporadic users.

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Selection Process

To register as an end-user Citizen, please visit https://atlas.optimism.io/citizenshipUntil Sybil-resistance mechanisms are more mature, the Optimism Foundation may suspend Citizens flagged as possible Sybils and request further verification of unique personhood.
The Token House and the Citizens’ House together represent all key stakeholders of the Superchain: tokenholders, chains, apps, and end-users. Both houses vote on proposals when the interests of all stakeholders should be represented in a particular decision. Each house has a distinct voting mechanism which, when combined together, creates a system of checks and balances aimed at balancing competing interests.Voting happens on a regular schedule via three-week voting cycles. Regular voting Cycles begin on Thursday at 19:00p GMT (12p PST) and end on Wednesday at 19:00 GMT (12p PST). Protocol Upgrades may go through an accelerated process. You can view full details here. You can track cycles on the governance calendar.
Key stakeholders of the Superchain can protect their interests by participating in Optimism’s public decision making process (governance). This process allows stakeholders to influence the future of the Superchain with limited day-to-day involvement.Key stakeholders will be asked to:
  • Vote: 1-2 times per year
  • Provide input: 3-4 times per year
  • Veto: only as needed
Email notifications will be sent to all stakeholders whenever any of the above actions is possible. Stakeholders can also monitor activity directly at vote.optimism.io or atlas.optimism.ioToken House Voters
  1. Activity: The social standard for being an active delegate is participating in 70% of all votes.
  2. No self-dealing: Voters are prohibited from approving and voting on their own proposals. Voters may not vote solely for their own candidacy in an election. In the case of approval/ranked choice elections, optimists may vote for themselves, so long as they also cast votes for the remaining elected positions.
  3. Conflicts of Interest: Any actual or reasonably anticipated conflicts of interest must be disclosed in writing and prominently displayed ahead of any voting (i.e. when approving proposal drafts, when running for an elected position, when making public recommendations).
These guidelines help ensure that the Token House remains active and resistant to capture or manipulation.Citizens House VotersTo maintain the integrity of the Citizens’ House, several important rules govern participation:
  1. No Double Representation: If you are an admin of a Citizen project or organization, you may not also join the Citizens’ House as a Superchain user.
  2. Organization Priority: An organization and a project under that organization can never both get votes in the Citizens’ House. If both are eligible, membership defaults to the organization.
  3. No Multiple Accounts: It is forbidden to create multiple accounts to attempt to get multiple votes in the Citizens’ House as a Superchain user. In Season 8, Citizens will be manually reviewed for possible Sybil activity by the Optimism Foundation.
  4. Seasonal Recalculation: The eligibility criteria for being a member of the Citizens’ House will be recalculated every Season and may change—being a Citizen now doesn’t guarantee future Citizens’ House membership.
These rules help ensure that the Citizens’ House remains balanced, representative, and resistant to capture or manipulation.You can view the Code of Conduct here.
Funding public goods is core to Optimism’s values and vision for a healthy ecosystem. Retroactive Public Goods Funding (Retro Funding) is an experimental grant program to reward public goods that have created impact in the Optimism ecosystem. Learn more at atlas.optimism.io
Identity in the Optimism Collective is built on onchain attestations, created with the Ethereum Attestation Service (“EAS”) — an open-source public good that is included as a predeploy in the OP Stack. Attestations represent Citizenship, project and organization identity, Retro Funding participation, and governance roles.
Relevant governing documents, OP trackers, Foundation budget reports, Retro Funding round results, and Optimism Foundation wallet addresses are collected on the dashboards, trackers, and addresses page, alongside the Superchain Health Dashboard.
The Optimism Foundation is a Cayman Islands foundation company. It operates to support the establishment of the Optimism Collective, the development of the Optimism ecosystem, and the technology that powers it.Consistent with the Collective’s Working Constitution, the Foundation strives to:
  • Support the Collective with a formal legal entity, allowing the Foundation to:
    • Enter into contracts with third parties, such as service providers.
    • Administer intellectual property rights.
    • Make required governmental reports and filings.
How does the Foundation work?The Optimism Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors and a Supervisor.The Board of Directors currently consists of: Abbey Titcomb, Mark Tyneway, Brian Avello, and Jing Wang. The Board’s role is to manage the business and affairs of the Foundation.The Supervisor is the Cayman Islands firm, DS Limited. Its role is to oversee the Foundation’s directors and ensure the observance of their legal obligations.The Foundation also employs officers, contractors and service providers to execute on its operational and administrative aims.How is the Foundation held accountable?As a Cayman Islands foundation company, the Foundation is legally accountable to its governing documentation, which sets up the Foundation to defer to the will of the Optimism Collective and its governance.There are two governance proposal types specifically targeted towards ensuring that the Foundation and its personnel are accountable to the will of the Collective:
  • Director removal - the ability of governance to have a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors removed from service.
  • Rights protections - a blocking vote, which enables governance to veto any proposed change to the Foundation’s governing documents that would materially reduce the rights of OP token holders.
More information on each of the above proposal types is contained in the Operating Manual.