# Optimism- Guide By [Magneto](https://paragraph.com/@magneto-2) · 2022-12-28 --- What is Optimism? ----------------- Optimism is an EVM equivalent Optimistic Rollup chain. It's designed to be fast, simple, and secure. ### Why use Optimism? The Optimism network lets you send transactions, similar to Ethereum, but with two important advantages, and one feature that stays exactly the same. * **Near-instant transaction finality.** You know almost immediately if your transaction took place or not. * **Much lower transaction fees.** Typically between a 1% and 10% of the cost on the Ethereum mainnet (also known as layer 1 or L1). For the current gas price and a few sample transactions' costs see here. * **Decentralization:** All transactions are posted to L1 Ethereum, inheriting the strong security guarantees of Ethereum. For more information: [https://help.optimism.io/hc/en-us/categories/4413040969755-Getting-started](https://help.optimism.io/hc/en-us/categories/4413040969755-Getting-started) What is Optimism Collective? ---------------------------- ![Pic from Optimism, Mirror](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/135563cd72ad90992b20c9b07179c77024cbb90f91853b4089077d97c345987f.jpg) Pic from Optimism, Mirror The Optimism Collective is a large-scale experiment in digital democratic governance, built to drive rapid and sustainable growth of a decentralized ecosystem, and stewarded by the newly formed Optimism Foundation. The Collective is a band of communities, companies, and citizens united by a mutually beneficial pact to adhere to the axiom of impact=profit. The Optimism Collective will dispel the myth that public goods cannot be profitable. The Collective will consistently provide massive retroactive incentives for public goods which benefit Optimism, Ethereum, and the Collective as a whole. For more information: [https://optimism.io/vision](https://optimism.io/vision) ### Tokens and Citizens The Optimism Collective will be governed co-equally by two houses, the Citizens’ House and the Token House. ![Pic from Optimism, Mirror](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/3bf6994689e11e2c0dc9334f227d210b452494e3cbc738255ba2d606fe06cb5b.png) Pic from Optimism, Mirror ### Token House The Token House is established by Airdrop #1, bringing in the first thousands of people who have engaged in positive-sum, community-oriented behavior. Token holders will be able to vote on protocol upgrades, project incentives as a part of a Governance Fund, and more. The token is called OP. ### Citizens’ House The Citizens’ House will facilitate and govern a process to distribute retroactive public goods funding, generated from the revenue collected by the network. Citizenship will be conferred by “soulbound” non-transferrable NFTs, and the set of citizens will grow over time as the Optimism community grows. The Citizen House is the vehicle which enables the distribution of power away from any centralized organization, to a human-centric, non-plutocratic mechanism. For more information: [https://community.optimism.io/docs/governance/](https://community.optimism.io/docs/governance/) What is the Optimism Token? --------------------------- The Optimism Token (ticker symbol OP) is an ERC-20 token that lets you participate in the governance of the Optimism protocol and public goods funding. ### When will the tokens be released? * Airdrop #1, which is 5% of the token supply, has already been released. * The governance fund (5.4%) is divided between phase 0 (~0.8%) and phase 1 (~4.4%). Phase 0 distribution will happen soon, after the proposals are approved by the Token House. Phase 1 distribution will happen later. * In general, about 50% of the tokens can be unlocked in the first year (19% for airdrops and 30% for various funds). * The 36% insider tokens (core contributors and sugar xaddies) are locked for at least a year. The current plan is to unlock a quarter of them after a year, and then 1/48 every month until they are all unlocked. For more information about Airdrop #1: [https://community.optimism.io/docs/governance/airdrop-1/](https://community.optimism.io/docs/governance/airdrop-1/) More possibles for Airdrop #2 [https://twitter.com/ETH\_Daily/status/1607353397212024832](https://twitter.com/ETH_Daily/status/1607353397212024832) What is RetroPGF? ----------------- RetroPGF stands for Retroactive Public Goods Funding. This is a series of experiments where members of the Citizens’ House allocate protocol profits or portions of the token treasury to projects they deem have provided substantial public good along certain criteria. 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. In each round of RetroPGF, Citizens vote on how to allocate funding looking backwards over a prescribed time period. These rewards create strong incentives for people to build public goods that benefit the Optimism Collective. The aggregate effect is an ecosystem that is easier to build on, learn about, and connect to, in turn driving application usage and generating more demand for blockspace. By funding public goods sustainably, the Collective can create a rich ecosystem and a better economy. ![Pic from Optimism](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/5b882c612870086ee1ea604ef8caa18f2f37a7598ae67809cbd5c629ba464924.png) Pic from Optimism The Optimism Collective’s second round of Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RetroPGF) takes place in Q1 2023. RetroPGF 2 will allocate 10m OP tokens to fund public goods that support development and usage of the OP Stack. For more information: [https://medium.com/ethereum-optimism/retroactive-public-goods-funding-33c9b7d00f0c](https://medium.com/ethereum-optimism/retroactive-public-goods-funding-33c9b7d00f0c) [https://community.optimism.io/docs/governance/retropgf-2/](https://community.optimism.io/docs/governance/retropgf-2/) [https://optimism.mirror.xyz/wqk1Yeyn2OhV9paDzbRXvQ0m0JYDu2npbSkMClwk1rY](https://optimism.mirror.xyz/wqk1Yeyn2OhV9paDzbRXvQ0m0JYDu2npbSkMClwk1rY) What is the Optimist NFT? ------------------------- Optimist NFT is a customizable profile picture project that can represent user identity across the Optimism ecosystem. Optimists can create millions of unique combinations for their NFT and there are many different thematic sets, each of which tells a part of the Optimism story. ### Who can mint an Optimist NFT? The Optimist NFT is in Beta and currently only voters in RetroPGF 2 can mint. Starting in early 2023, each month, several hundred active addresses will be invited to mint based on their participation in the Optimism Collective and data recorded in the AttestationStation. ### Want to be able to mint in the future? Follow @OptimismFND on Twitter or visit our documentation to find products people are building that help you build your reputation on Optimism. Eventually, Optimist NFTs will be widely available to mint and customize as the Optimism Collective grows to welcome the entire crypto family. How to start with Optimism? --------------------------- Go to the link and follow the instruction and get your first free Optimism NFT. [https://app.optimism.io/get-started](https://app.optimism.io/get-started) More information: Twitter: [https://twitter.com/optimismFND](https://twitter.com/optimismFND) Web: [https://www.optimism.io/](https://www.optimism.io/) Discord: [https://discord-gateway.optimism.io/](https://discord-gateway.optimism.io/) Source from: Optimism Mirror, Optimism Medium, Optimism Help Center, Optimism Discord, and Twitter. --- *Originally published on [Magneto](https://paragraph.com/@magneto-2/optimism-guide)*