What Is Optimism?

About Optimism (OP)

OP is a native token of an Optimism platform, a layer two protocol that scales Ethereum technology and values. According to the team’s point of view, Ethereum has the most important features of a successful project, such as security, permissionlessness, and decentralization. Optimism adds an ecosystem of decentralized applications to the existing basis. The most significant thing about Optimism is that it aims to be the equivalent of the Ethereum Virtual Machine, it is more than just compatibility.

The platform works on making the experience for developers and users better. One of the aims of the project is to create the possibility of instant transactions and scalable smart contracts. Thus, Optimism is addressing the most significant issues of the Ethereum network. Optimism has the ability to speed up transactions and cut costs with the help of the technique called optimistic rollups. This technique allows putting several transactions into one on another blockchain. According to Vitalik Buterin, rollups can be a solution for the Ethereum scaling problem.

The OP token is used for governing the ecosystem. Optimism has a special governance system based on collaboration between the Optimism Foundation and The Optimism Collective. This system is fueled by the OP token.

Where did Optimism (OP) come from?

Optimism is a public benefit foundation that was created in 2019 in New York. The CEO of the corporation is Jinglan Wang. In one of her interview she says that initially she was a Bitcoiner, but after she was introduced to Ethereum, she couldn’t stop thinking about the potential it has.

Karl Floersch is an Optimism CTO. Before Optimism was created Karl Floersch and Jinglan Wang worked together in the Plasma Group, a non-profit research group. Their crypto work and research experience brought them together and that is when Optimism appeared.

In 2019 the team introduced one of the main techniques used by the platform, rollups. In 2020 an EVM-compatible testnet was launched. In 2021 Alpha mainnet was launched.

What are the advantages of Optimism (OP)?

1. Low gas fees
   
   Gas fees are one of Ethereum's issues. So it was crucial to find a way to offer a solution.
2. Fast transactions
   
   This drawback can be improved, as was proved by the Optimism team.
3. Allows scalability
   
   The network allows adding new blocks and compressing the size of existing blocks. 
4. Security
   
   Security comes from the Ethereum mainnet. Even though transactions are processed on another blockchain, they are written on Ethereum. Moreover, users have 7 days to express concerns about invalid transactions.

What are the disadvantages of Optimism (OP)?

1. Withdrawals
   
   Even though with the help of Optimism transactions become faster and cheaper, withdrawals, on the other hand, take a lot of time and can be costly. 
2. Different blockchain
   
   It can hardly be named a technical issue, however, some users do not trust a system that includes something external. They have the reasons for such an attitude since scam projects appear and frauds happen in the Crypto World from time to time. Read our article to learn how to avoid crypto scam schemes.

How to buy Optimism (OP)?

If you decide to become a part of the Optimism community and would like to purchase the OP token, we are happy to help you. Please, follow the instructions below to get Optimism tokens:

1. Choose the currency you want to exchange (e.g. BTC). Enter the amount you would like to swap.
2. Select OP in the second drop-down list. You will see the estimated amount that you will receive after the exchange.
3. Click the Exchange button.
4. Enter the Recipient's Address. OP will be sent to this address. Be careful and make sure you use the correct address.
5. Create the exchange.
6. You will see the Bitcoin deposit address. You need to transfer the necessary amount of BTC to this address to start the exchange. Then wait for Optimism tokens to reach your wallet.

SimpleSwap reminds you that this article is provided for informational purposes only and does not provide investment advice. All purchases and cryptocurrency investments are your own responsibility.