Is Optimism considering launching its native cryptocurrency?

Optimism, an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain, has been recording significant milestones in recent times in less than a year since launching its mainnet.  

Optimism Hits New High in TVL

According to data on decentralized finance data provider DefiLlama, Optimism has reached a new all-time high (ATH) in total value locked (TVL). 

Per the data, the network’s TVL soared as high as $531.22 million earlier today, suggesting a growing interest among cryptocurrency enthusiasts in the Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain. 

The massive surge in Optimism total value locked came from 30 different projects using the network to scale, including Synthetix, Uniswap, and Stargate. 

While there are 30 projects on the Optimism blockchain, Synthetix accounts for the majority of the total value locked, as the project has a 43.63% dominance over other protocols on Optimism. 

Upcoming Token Rumors

It is worth noting that the Optimism TVL has been up by 6.46% in the last 24 hours, which came about following rumors that the team behind the project is close to releasing its native cryptocurrency.  

Yesterday, the cryptocurrency community received reports that Optimism is developing its native token, which will be distributed to its loyal enthusiasts via airdrops. 

Aside from cryptocurrency users flocking to lock their assets on the various Optimism-related projects in a bid to become beneficiaries of the airdrop, the token prices of some of the tokens from these projects also recorded significant growth, with many soaring as high as 20%. 

Optimism teased its users by saying: “We’re nearing the end of a chapter and the beginning of the next — one driven by community ownership and governance.”

The rumors of a possible Optimism token issuance came hours after the project published reports of its outstanding growth over the past 12 months. 

Per Optimism, over the past 12 months, it has processed over $17 billion worth of transactions and has helped users to save over $1 billion in gas fees, among other developments. 

Twitters users seem optimistic about the recent development:

@Crypto_McKenna, olidity Developer and DeFi Advisor said:

“The Optimism Token (The good stuff) In Optimism’s recent medium posted they teased a ‘New Chapter’ one driven by community ownership and governance. I think we all know these hints towards Optimism launching their L2 Governance token in the coming weeks.

Token Distribution This is speculation but I think there will be a retroactive airdrop for two participants.

1 – Early bridgooors/protocol users

2 – Actual protocols deployed on Optimism Optimism aims to incentivise activity on their chain for the following reason.”

Ethereum is Warming up for New Bull Run.

The Ethereum network is experiencing an influx of whales, a phenomenon that has preceded bull runs for the asset in the past. Data from Santiment shows that the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap is correlated with the number of whales holding 10,000 or more ETH.

#Ethereum price is correlated with the # of whales with over 10K $ETH.

When whales began accumulating in Sept'20, $ETH rose by 1,300%. When they started offloading in May'21, ETH fell by 62%.

60 whales have joined the network since Feb'22, signaling the start of a new bull run. pic.twitter.com/4qj9XBUH07

— Ali Martinez (@ali_charts) April 20, 2022

An example is September 2020 when such major whales started accumulating ETH and the price increased by 1,300%. This was followed by a sell-off from the same category of ETH holders in May 2021 which caused the price to drop by 62%. The data confirms that the Ethereum network does depend on whales for the price of ETH to grow, just like any other network.

60 whales join the Ethereum network 

As ETH price is correlated with the number of whales holding 10,000 ETH or more, an increase in the number of whales means that a new bull run is underway. Crypto analyst Ali Martinez says 60 whales have joined the network in 2022, “signaling the start of a new bull run.”

This is no wonder because Ethereum is becoming attractive to investors recently. First, the network has so much to offer, being the foremost blockchain for smart contracts and dapps. These are just two of the many aspects of Ethereum that have found many applications in everyday life. As a result, analysts and supporters of the network believe that ETH is highly undervalued.

Another possible reason for the influx of whales could be the plan to migrate Ethereum to Proof-of-Stake. Though this has been delayed several times, it is clear that the network will become far more competitive when the migration finally happens. Devs and ordinary users alike are looking forward to the transition which will cut gas fees, make transactions faster, and push the price of ETH higher as more users to patronize the network.

13 whales join the Ethereum network in a few days

In the past few days, thirteen whales holding above 10K ETH joined the network, Since March 14th, such top wallets have shown an increase of 4%.

The # of addresses with a balance greater than 10K $ETH has increased by over 4% since Mar 14.

But in the past few days, 13 whales holding over 10K #ETH have joined the network. This may seem insignificant but each of these whales have bought over $30 million in #Ethereum. pic.twitter.com/jWNX6slFTu

— Ali Martinez (@ali_charts) April 21, 2022

Ethereum price

The short rally following the recent market correction has kept the price of Ethereum above $3,000. At the time of writing this report, the price is rising further and has reached $3,153 from $3,091. This may be because of the whale influx, but there is no way to tell if this will be sustained. Other top cryptocurrencies have also turned green as the market seems to be entering a new rally.