Optimism Foundation, the organization responsible for the Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Optimism, has announced a private sale of approximately 19.5 million of its governance tokens. At the current market value of $4.62 per token, the total worth of the tokens sold amounts to around $90 million. However, the foundation has specified that there is a vesting period of two years, during which the buyer is not allowed to sell the tokens. Despite this restriction, the buyer can still use the tokens for governance participation within the vesting period.
The foundation clarified that these tokens are from the unallocated portion of the OP token treasury, which is part of the organization’s original working budget equivalent to 30% of the initial OP token supply. Multiple transactions will be made in the coming days to distribute the OP tokens to the buyers, with Optimism assuring the community that these transactions were planned and are related to the private sale.
The specifics of the sale and the identity of the buyer have not been disclosed by Optimism due to the private nature of the transaction. This has sparked discussions within the community, with some expressing concerns about the lack of transparency, while others defend the foundation, acknowledging the need for the Optimism team to sustain themselves financially.
It’s worth noting that this is not the first private sale of Optimism tokens. In a previous private sale conducted on September 21, 2023, the network transferred 116 million OP tokens, valued at approximately $160 million at that time. Similar to the current sale, these tokens were also subjected to a two-year lockup, preventing their immediate impact on the token’s price.