# Optimism Retro-PGF

**Published by:** [AyohTunde](https://paragraph.com/@ayohtunde/)
**Published on:** 2023-06-16
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@ayohtunde/optimism-retro-pgf

## Content

This piece will guide you on all you need to know about the optimism retroactive public goods funding.To understand the concept of retro-PGF and its purpose, we need to understand a few terms and we can connect the dots easily from there.What is public good?Public goods are commodities or services that benefit all members of society, and which are often provided for free. This means everyone has access to use them, and their use does not deplete their availability for future use. An example of a public good is the optimism Stack (OP Stack)What is the OP stack?The Op Stack is an open-source modular approach for building blockchains. OP Stack is not just for Optimistic Layer2 rollups. The goal is a group of highly integrated chains that form a Super-chain. The OP Stack is built as a public good for the Ethereum and Optimism ecosystems, so anyone can build on it. It is managed and maintained by the Optimism Collective.What is the Optimism Collective?The Optimism Collective is a band of communities, companies, and citizens united by a mutually beneficial treaty to adhere to the principle of impact=profit - that a positive impact to the community should be rewarded with profit to the individual.What is the SuperChain?The Superchain is a horizontally scalable network of chains that share security, a communication layer, and an open-source development stack. Knowing these 3 things will shape our understanding of what retro-PGF aims… Now, let’s get into what RPGF means.What is Retro-PGF?Retroactive public good funding is an initiative to provide financial support for public goods that facilitate or build on Optimism Stack (OP Stack) development and utilization. Can you see how all these connect? Let’s dive deeper into RPGF.The Optimism collective vision believes that a positive impact to the community should be rewarded with profit to the builder and not just the community…. This brought birth to the impact=profit axiom. What’s the essence of building free software for the public good to profit without any merit for yourself? RetroPGF also provides possible exit liquidity for public goods projects, which opens up a market for early investment in those projects. This means builders can:Be compensated for their positive contributions without generating direct revenueRaise capital to bootstrap based on the early potential and promise of their projectRetroPGF is Optimism’s process for funding public goods for the benefit of the Collective and beyond.Wondering how Optimism funds public goods?Image from Optimism docsToken treasury - Optimism allocated 20% of its token supply to fund public goods through the RetroPGF initiative. Network revenue - When users transact on the Optimism network, the profits generated from network sequencing are going into used to fund public goods as well. RetroPGF is based on the idea that it’s easier to determine what was useful than to issue proactive grants for what might be useful. Be it code or community, as long as it’s a public good that makes the OP Stack grow, it is qualified for RetroPGF.RetroPGF1.0 (Done)RetroPGF1 was the first major RPGF experiment. It's also the first experiment of a new type of governance vote through a group of 22 participants called the **badge holders. **Optimism allocated a total of $1 million to 58 projects to reward the good work that these projects have already done for the Optimism and Ethereum ecosystems.RetroPGF2.0 (Done)RetroPGF2 took place around Q1 of 2023, and Optimism Foundation distributed 10 million $OP tokens among 196 projects within three categories; education, tooling, and infrastructure. Education projects - 3,064,659 $OP Tooling - 3,229,011 $OP Infrastructure - 3,706,329 $OP Want to know more about the steps and iterations taken in the RetroPGF2? I recommend you go through the learnings and reflections of the collective towards this goal.RetroPGF3.0? (Coming soon)RetroPGF is forever and an interactive process as the method of funding in each round is subject to change from the previous round if necessary. Optimism is committed to funding public goods. Less I forget, an important part of the RetroPGF; The citizen house and the token house; work together to govern the Optimism collective. These two form the collective and are heavily involved in ecosystem governance.Image from Optimism docsThe Citizens’ House is responsible for allocating funds through RetroPGF.Final thoughts 🤔Retroactive public goods funding is a great initiative by the Optimism collective and I am so excited about what the future of RPGF holds. The initiative does not only benefit builders and creators but users as well. Bored Town (an NFT project) is currently running an art contest campaign with their RPGF allocation; this is one of the ways users and community members can benefit from the RPGF. Want to start with the Optimism ecosystem? Head 👉🏽 Here If you enjoy this piece, kindly subscribe to get updated on my future piece. Follow me on Twitter

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