Optimism
Optimism builds the open-source OP Stack, an Ethereum Layer 2 framework powering 50+ production chains and serving centralized exchanges (Kraken, OKX, Upbit, Bitpanda), fintechs (ether.fi), DeFi protocols, and regulated financial institutions via managed OP Enterprise services and Superchain revenue sharing.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Optimism does
Optimism operates an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain infrastructure platform built around the open-source, MIT-licensed OP Stack. OP Labs, the wholly-owned operating subsidiary, develops and maintains the stack, which powers 50+ production chains (including Coinbase/Base until February 2026, Kraken's Ink, OKX's X Layer, Sony's Soneium, World Chain, Unichain, and Bitpanda's Vision Chain) that share an audited codebase and form the "Superchain" network. The company monetizes through (1) OP Enterprise, a managed-chain service launched in January 2026 with three tiers (OP Mainnet free, Self Managed, Fully Managed) plus Mission-Critical Support offering 99.9-99.95% uptime SLAs; (2) Superchain revenue share, historically capturing 2.5% of revenue (or 15% of net fees) from member chains under the OP Stack license, with 50% directed to monthly OP token buybacks starting February 2026; and (3) the Actions SDK, a developer tool integrating Uniswap, Aave, Morpho, and Velodrome DeFi primitives. The Optimism Foundation, a Cayman Islands foundation company, stewards governance via the bicameral Optimism Collective (token holders plus Citizens' House), RetroPGF public goods funding ($850M+ OP committed), and a $2M Immunefi bug bounty.
Optimism's core technology centers on the OP Stack's modular architecture: an execution layer (op-geth/op-erigon), sequencer, batcher/proposer, fault proof system (Cannon MIPS.sol, Stage 1), and the Rust-powered Kona-Node supporting 20Mgas/sec throughput scaling toward 100Mgas/sec. Differentiated features include Flashblocks (200ms preconfirmations with sub-250ms finality), programmable compliance at the sequencer level (TRM/Blockaid/Forta/Chainalysis integration for OFAC and sanctions screening before block inclusion), reserved blockspace for guaranteed enterprise throughput, and 99.99% historical uptime on OP Mainnet. The platform charges sub-cent fees ($0.00001 median on OP Mainnet) and supports 200ms, 1s, or 2s blocktimes. Customers include five of the largest centralized exchanges (Coinbase departed February 2026; Kraken, OKX, Upbit, Bitpanda active), fintechs (ether.fi migrated $220M TVL across 70,000+ active cards in three days with zero downtime), DeFi protocols (Morpho $640M loan origination on Base; Velodrome $300B+ all-time volume), and regulated financial institutions (Mitsui's Zipangcoin, the first Japanese-regulated onchain commodity). The company raised a $150M Series B at a $1.65B valuation in March 2022 led by Andreessen Horowitz and Paradigm; OP Labs laid off approximately 20 employees (~19.6% of workforce) in March 2026 amid the Base departure.
Optimism firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Optimism
- Legal name
- Optimism Foundation
- Website
- https://optimism.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Optimism builds the open-source OP Stack, an Ethereum Layer 2 framework powering 50+ production chains and serving centralized exchanges (Kraken, OKX, Upbit, Bitpanda), fintechs (ether.fi), DeFi protocols, and regulated financial institutions via managed OP Enterprise services and Superchain revenue sharing.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Optimism industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Blockchain Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Securities and Commodity Exchanges (52321)
- SIC
- Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- MEV, Sequencing & Transaction Supply Chain (builders, searchers, PBS, auctions) (FSAPAAAG)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Compliance, Risk & RegTech for Tokenized Assets (KYC/AML, sanctions, travel rule, reporting) (FSAPAIAH)
Keywords
Where Optimism is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Optimism business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- OP Enterprise Managed Service: Recurring managed-service fees for operating customer-owned chains on Optimism infrastructure under OP Enterprise (Fully Managed, Self Managed, Mission-Critical tiers). Pricing is quote-based with launch timelines of 6-12 weeks and 99.9%-99.95% uptime SLAs; OP Mainnet deployment is free.
- Sequencer Revenue & Superchain Revenue Share: Transaction-fee revenue captured by chain operators on OP Stack chains; under the OP Stack license, Superchain members historically share 2.5% of revenue (or 15% of net fees) back to the Optimism Collective. Base's February 2026 departure from the OP Stack cut off over $16M in shared revenue.
- OP Token Buyback (12-month program): Tokenholder-approved 12-month program that uses Superchain revenue to buy and burn OP tokens, with 50% of Superchain revenue directed to monthly OP buybacks starting February 2026. Represents a value-accrual rather than direct cash revenue stream for tokenholders.
- Application-Layer Fee Capture: Operators of dedicated OP Stack chains (Coinbase/Base, Kraken/Ink, OKX, Upbit, Bitpanda) capture 100% of sequencer fees plus internalize application-layer revenue from DeFi and consumer products running on their chains; a Messari OP Stack Report estimate cited on the Optimism blog suggests roughly $1 in processing fees can translate to ~$10 in application revenue.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Monthly | OP Mainnet: free deployment on Optimism's flagship chain |
| Subscription | Annual | Self Managed: customer runs own chain; OP Labs provides support |
| Subscription | Annual | Fully Managed: production chain delivered as a service with SLA |
| Other | Annual | Mission-Critical Support: add-on for chains where downtime has a cost |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Actions SDK: free npm package for DeFi integration |
Go-to-market motion5 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels12 records
Optimism product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Optimism provides Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain infrastructure via the open-source OP Stack framework, enabling enterprises, centralized exchanges, fintechs, and financial institutions to deploy production-grade blockchain chains. The core offerings include OP Mainnet (flagship Ethereum L2), OP Enterprise (managed chain deployment service with SLAs), and the Actions SDK (developer tool for DeFi integration). Revenue is generated through managed-service subscriptions and sequencer transaction-fee share from the Superchain network of 50+ chains.
Product overview
Optimism is a blockchain infrastructure platform, not a single product. Its core asset is the open-source, MIT-licensed OP Stack framework that powers 50+ production chains, with OP Mainnet (chain ID 10) as the flagship Ethereum L2 deployment. On top of this, Optimism sells OP Enterprise, a managed-infrastructure service offered in three tiers (OP Mainnet, Self Managed, Fully Managed) with an optional Mission-Critical Support add-on, targeted at fintechs, centralized exchanges, and financial institutions. For developers, the Actions SDK (@eth-optimism/actions-sdk) wraps DeFi integrations with Uniswap, Aave, Morpho, and Velodrome into a single dependency, while the Optimism Gateway Interface provides the user-facing bridge front-end. The Optimist NFT Service and AttestationStation round out the offering as on-chain identity/attestation primitives. Governance of the ecosystem is handled through the Optimism Collective, with the Optimism Foundation stewarding protocol upgrades, Retro Funding, and the OP token buyback program funded by Superchain revenue.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- OP Stack: Optimism's open-source, MIT-licensed software stack for deploying next-generation onchain products and Layer-2 chains; powers 50+ chains.
- OP Mainnet
- OP Enterprise
- Actions SDK
- Optimism Collective
- Superchain
- OP Labs
Products and services
- OP Mainnet Optimism's flagship Ethereum Layer-2 rollup built on the OP Stack (chain ID: 10). Provides neutral blockspace, sub-250ms finality via Flashblocks, $0.00001 median fees, 99.99% uptime, and 20Mgas/sec throughput scaling toward 100Mgas/sec. Functions as the starting point for institutions before graduating to a dedicated OP Stack chain.
- OP Stack Optimism's open-source, MIT-licensed software for deploying next-generation onchain products. Modular, customizable design powers 50+ production chains including Base, Unichain, Ink, World Chain, Soneium, Zora, and others. Supports 200ms/1s/2s blocktimes, configurable fee structures, and sequencer sovereignty.
- OP Enterprise Managed blockchain infrastructure service from the team behind the OP Stack. Three deployment tiers (OP Mainnet, Self Managed, Fully Managed) plus a Mission-Critical Support add-on, with launch timelines of days to 8-12 weeks. Includes 30+ pre-vetted integrations for wallets, custody, oracles, indexers, RPC, and compliance; SLA-backed uptime up to 99.95%; programmable compliance at the sequencer level (OFAC/sanctions screening, private transactions with oversight, permissioned chain access); and 24/7 on-call incident response with as little as 15-minute SEV 1 response.
- Actions SDK JavaScript/TypeScript SDK (npm package @eth-optimism/actions-sdk) that lets developers integrate DeFi features (lend, borrow, swap) into their applications with one dependency instead of dozens. Connects to leading wallets and protocols including Uniswap, Aave, Morpho, and Velodrome; supports configurable custody, allowlists/blocklists, and first-class audited protocol integrations with combined $20B+ TVL.
- Optimism Gateway Interface A website-hosted user interface (Bridge Front-End) that enables users to connect a compatible non-custodial Web3 wallet and initiate messages to OP Mainnet and bridge digital assets between Ethereum and OP Mainnet, and between OP Mainnet and other public blockchains. Available at app.optimism.io/bridge/deposit.
- Optimist NFTs and AttestationStation A service enabling eligible users to mint non-fungible Optimist NFTs with customized PFPs on OP Mainnet and interact with the AttestationStation on-chain attestation smart contract. PFP images are dedicated to the public domain under Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
Quantifiable outcome
- $18 trillion settled onchain across OP Stack chains in 2025
- +9 more outcomes
Companies that use Optimism
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Optimism technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration20 records
AI capability1 record
Feature13 records
Optimism partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
24 partnerships are on record, tiered major and flagship.
- Ronin (Sky Mavis)majorCompleted migration from an independent Ethereum sidechain to a full Ethereum Layer 2 on the OP Stack (May 12, 2026), joining the OP Stack ecosystem alongside Conduit, Boundless, and EigenDA. Migration includes an 89% reduction in annual RON token emissions.
- Upbit (GIWA Chain)flagshipKorea's largest cryptocurrency exchange signed an MOU with the Optimism Foundation in May 2026 to build GIWA Chain on the OP Stack for Korean and SEA exchange-native use cases, including a programmable sequencer policy engine from day one.
- Mitsui & Co. Digital Commodities (MDC / Zipangcoin)majorMitsui subsidiary MDC launched Zipangcoin on OP Mainnet in April 2026 - the first onchain commodity-backed crypto asset in Japan, representing a basket of physical gold, silver, and platinum under Japanese regulatory oversight.
- BitpandaflagshipFirst fully managed OP Enterprise client and first MiCA-compliant exchange chain in Europe. Vision Chain uses a euro-pegged stablecoin as gas; built in partnership with Optimism and the Vision Web3 Foundation to tokenize regulated real-world assets for European banks and fintechs. Bitpanda reported €371M in adjusted 2025 revenue and is targeting a €4-5B Frankfurt IPO in H1 2026.
- Vision Web3 FoundationmajorCo-built Bitpanda's Vision Chain with Optimism, providing the Vision Token (VSN) and a regulated, interoperable environment for tokenized assets under MiCA-compliant Euro stablecoins.
- ether.fiflagshipMigrated $220M TVL, 70,000+ active cards, and 300,000 accounts from Scroll to OP Mainnet in three days with zero downtime (April 15, 2026). Optimism helped coordinate Pyth oracle feeds and Etherscan asset metadata; ether.fi also selected to deploy a liquid staking treasury on OP Mainnet in December 2025.
- SuccinctmajorSuccinct announced as Optimism's first preferred provider to accelerate ZK Proving on the Superchain (February 12, 2026).
- Unichain / CelomajorFirst customers under OP Enterprise Mission-Critical Support at the launch of OP Enterprise (January 29, 2026).
- OKX (X Layer)flagshipOKX migrated its X Layer chain from a competing infrastructure stack to the OP Stack in December 2025. ICE (NYSE parent) invested $200M in OKX at a $25B valuation with a partnership to bring NYSE-listed tokenized equities to OKX users in H2 2026.
- Velodrome and AerodromeflagshipWorld's largest MetaDEXs, #1 ETH and #1 BTC pools onchain in past year; $300B+ all-time volume across the Optimism ecosystem; $450M+ all-time rewards distributed to voters. Scale to 10+ OP Stack chains using the OP Stack.
- MorphoflagshipDecentralized lending protocol powering the largest 'DeFi mullet' on Base (OP Stack), generating $640M in loan origination volume at 6% average borrow rate; ~80% of Morpho's USDC supply comes from Spark (another Optimism partner).
- FlashbotsmajorOptimism partnered with Flashbots to accelerate sequencing for every OP Stack chain (August 21, 2025).
- Kraken (Ink chain)flagshipKraken built Ink on the OP Stack as a vertically integrated revenue chain. Ink carries $480M+ TVL (3,800%+ growth since launch), $17B monthly perps volume by January 2026, and powers Tydro (white-label Aave V3 lending) and the Nado perps platform. 99% of Ink's one million users had no prior Kraken onchain history.
- World Chain (Tools for Humanity)flagshipBuilt on the OP Stack and integrated with the World protocol, World Chain supports 14M verified unique humans, 600M+ all-time transactions, 5.17M monthly active wallets, and 30M+ World App users.
- Unichain (Uniswap)flagshipUniswap's OP Stack chain; one of the first customers under OP Enterprise Mission-Critical Support. Unichain achieved $0.0002 transaction costs in July 2025 and is the initial target for native Superchain interoperability with OP Mainnet.
- AvailmajorStrategic data-availability partnership: Avail forged partnerships with five major Ethereum rollups including Optimism in 2024 as part of its Full Danksharding mainnet launch.
- Sony (Soneium)flagshipSony's consumer-grade OP Stack chain; featured as a customer case study on the Optimism homepage alongside Coinbase/Base, Kraken/Ink, OKX, Upbit, and Bitpanda.
- Coinbase (Base)flagshipBase was built on the OP Stack and launched in August 2023 as Optimism's flagship exchange chain partner. Base holds ~$4.5B DeFi TVL (~51% of all L2 DeFi). Note: Base announced departure from the OP Stack in February 2026 to a proprietary codebase.
- CelomajorMobile payments network for sending digital dollars worldwide, transitioning to the OP Stack as part of the Superchain.
- Aave V3majorDay-one deployment across 50+ OP Stack chains; provides the underlying lending primitive for white-label deployments like Kraken's Tydro on Ink and Coinbase's Morpho integration on Base.
- Pyth NetworkmajorOracle provider for OP Mainnet; Optimism coordinated with Pyth directly to bring EURC/USD, ETHFI/USD, and eUSD/USD price feeds live on OP Mainnet before ether.fi's migration.
- ChainlinkmajorDay-one oracle partner on OP Stack chains; serves as fallback oracle on OP Mainnet alongside Pyth.
- SparkmajorProvides ~80% of USDC supply on Base (OP Stack) - showcases how DeFi protocols integrate across the Superchain ecosystem.
- UniswapmajorFirst-class integration in the Actions SDK alongside Aave, Morpho, and Velodrome; ~$20B+ combined TVL of integrated protocols.
Scale indicators18 records
Recent moves3 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Optimism competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Arbitrum (Offchain Labs): Arbitrum is the largest Ethereum optimistic rollup by total value locked, with ~45% L2 market share vs. Optimism's ~25%. It directly competes with Optimism in the same optimistic-rollup technology category, serving similar DeFi, exchange, and institutional customers with a comparable EVM-equivalent architecture.
- Starknet (StarkWare): Starknet is a leading ZK-rollup L2 on Ethereum that competes directly with Optimism for the same exchange, fintech, and DeFi customers. It offers a different technical approach (validity proofs vs. optimistic fraud proofs) and represents the principal technological alternative to optimistic rollups.
- zkSync (Matter Labs): zkSync is a ZK-rollup L2 that competes with Optimism for enterprise and developer mindshare, with a stated focus on payments and consumer-scale applications. It is part of the ~15% combined zk-rollup market share competing against Optimism's ~25%.
- Scroll: Scroll is a ZK-rollup L2 that competes directly with Optimism for DeFi and exchange customers, including having lost ether.fi as a customer to Optimism in 2026. It is part of the zk-rollup category challenging Optimism's optimistic-rollup approach.
- Linea (Consensys): Linea is Consensys' ZK-rollup L2 that competes with Optimism for enterprise and developer adoption. It benefits from MetaMask integration and similar institutional positioning, representing a credible alternative to OP Enterprise.
- Mantle: Mantle is an Ethereum L2 originally built on the OP Stack that has since evolved its stack. It directly competes with Optimism for DeFi liquidity and enterprise customers, and demonstrates both the flexibility of OP Stack adoption and the risk of customer differentiation.
Broad incumbents
- Polygon Labs: Polygon operates a broad portfolio of Ethereum scaling solutions including Polygon PoS, Polygon zkEVM, and the Polygon CDK. It overlaps with Optimism as an L2 infrastructure provider but spans a wider range of technical approaches and go-to-market motions.
Emerging players
- Base (Coinbase): Base was previously Optimism's flagship exchange chain (~$4.5B DeFi TVL, ~51% of all L2 DeFi) but announced in February 2026 it would migrate to a proprietary unified codebase. It remains a direct L2 competitor and a key reference point for what 'graduating' from OP Stack looks like.
Others
- Conduit: Conduit is a leading Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS) provider that hosts the OP Stack on behalf of customers. While it is an Optimism channel partner, RaaS providers increasingly compete for the chain-deployment value capture that OP Enterprise is targeting.
- Celestia: Celestia is a modular data-availability (DA) layer that competes with Ethereum's blob data for rollup settlement. It represents a category of modular-blockchain infrastructure that could disintermediate Optimism's L1-settlement-based value proposition over time.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Optimism social profiles
Digital presenceOptimism financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Optimism leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Optimism subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Optimism funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors11 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Optimism M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments7 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Optimism
What does Optimism do?
Optimism provides Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain infrastructure via the open-source OP Stack framework, enabling enterprises, centralized exchanges, fintechs, and financial institutions to deploy production-grade blockchain chains. The core offerings include OP Mainnet (flagship Ethereum L2), OP Enterprise (managed chain deployment service with SLAs), and the Actions SDK (developer tool for DeFi integration). Revenue is generated through managed-service subscriptions and sequencer transaction-fee share from the Superchain network of 50+ chains.
Is Optimism a public or private company?
Optimism is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Optimism founded?
Optimism was founded in 2021. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Optimism based?
Optimism is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Optimism make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. OP Enterprise Managed Service is the primary driver. The others are sequencer Revenue & Superchain Revenue Share, OP Token Buyback (12-month program) and application-Layer Fee Capture.
Who are Optimism's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Arbitrum (Offchain Labs), Starknet (StarkWare), zkSync (Matter Labs), Scroll, Linea (Consensys) and Mantle. Polygon Labs is listed as a broad incumbent. Base (Coinbase) is listed as an emerging player. Others are Conduit and Celestia.
Does Optimism have an API?
Yes. The Actions SDK (@eth-optimism/actions-sdk) is an npm-distributed SDK that lets developers integrate DeFi actions (lend, borrow, swap) into their applications with a single dependency. It connects to leading wallets and DeFi protocols including Uniswap, Aave, Morpho, and Velodrome, replacing separate per-protocol integrations. The platform also exposes RPC endpoints (e.g., for ERC-4337 / account abstraction) and a Gateway Interface for bridging, documented at docs.optimism.io. Developer documentation is at docs.optimism.io.
What industry is Optimism in?
Optimism's product category is Blockchain Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAPAAAG, MEV, Sequencing & Transaction Supply Chain (builders, searchers, PBS, auctions), with a secondary code of FSAPAIAH, Compliance, Risk & RegTech for Tokenized Assets (KYC/AML, sanctions, travel rule, reporting). Its NAICS code is 52321 and its SIC code is 6200.