From The Optimism Collective

At its core, Retroactive Public Goods Funding (Retro Funding) embodies a vision of collaboration and collective success. In order to scale the Superchain, impactful work needs to be rewarded. By rewarding contributions that span across the Superchain and the Collective as a whole, we encourage developers, businesses, creators, and educators to continue making contributions towards building a fair, and open internet.

Retro Funding is not merely a charitable endeavor; it's building an impact system where contributions are valued and rewarded.

The Collective has allocated 850M OP to Retro Funding, which goes towards rewarding onchain impact across Optimism, and the Superchain. For clarity, 850M OP is the total amount allocated to Retro Funding from the initial token supply.  Stay tuned, we'll announce allocation details closer to each upcoming round!

New era for Retro Funding

As the next iteration of Retro Funding, we're excited to announce a new era of clarity. By delineating specific categories of contributions, we're creating a framework that makes it easier to understand what impact will be rewarded, thus fostering a more purposeful and targeted approach to development.

So, what exactly does this change entail? Retro Funding will now operate through specifically targeted, and categorized rounds and we will continue to iterate as we gather more and more learnings. Below you’ll find an overview of Retro rounds planned for 2024. More details will follow for each specific round!

Each round will focus on distinct category-specific contributions, providing clarity and direction for anyone seeking to make an impact. Whether it's enhancing scalability, improving security, or fostering community engagement, contributors will know exactly what type of impact is being rewarded, and when.

Retro Funding 4: Onchain Builders

This category will reward onchain builders who contribute to the success of Optimism. This round seeks to expand the reach and impact of the network by rewarding those building across the Superchain, increasing demand for blockspace, and driving value to the Collective. This includes builders who bring new users to the Superchain, drive network effects and protocol usage.

Submit your application: May 2024

Retro Funding 5: OP Stack

The OP Stack is the heart of Optimism, and the Superchain. Contributions to the OP Stack and improvements to the foundational elements of Optimism's infrastructure will be rewarded in this round. From protocol enhancements to optimization initiatives, this round focuses on strengthening the core components that underpin the Optimism platform. Some examples of recent contributions to the OP stack have brought huge value to Optimism EIP-4844,  Span Batches, fault proof alpha, and development and maintenance of client implementations like op-reth, op-nethermind, and op-erigon.

Submit your application: August 2024

Retro Funding 6: Governance

Improving the capture resistance and resource allocation of Optimism Governance is the primary objective of this category. By incentivizing contributions that enhance governance tools, mechanisms, and processes, Retro Funding aims to foster a more robust and resilient governance framework within the ecosystem.

This round will focus on rewarding key governance infrastructure that enables continued decentralization, as well as research and analytics tools that provide valuable insights into governance design.

Submit your application: August 2024

Retro Funding 7: Dev Tooling

Supporting Optimism builders with developer tooling is the focus of this category. From SDKs to testing frameworks, contributions that streamline the development process and empower builders will be rewarded, ensuring a more efficient and productive development environment.

Submit your application: October 2024

Who is eligible for Retro Funding?

Retro Funding rewards a diverse set of categories across protocol and infrastructure development, end user experiences, adoption, governance improvements, and work towards improving the OP Stack.

Every Base project is eligible for Retro Funding, every Mode project is eligible for Retro Funding, every Zora project is eligible for Retro Funding, every Farcaster project is eligible for Retro Funding, every sound.xyz project is eligible for Retro Funding, every OP Chain is eligible for Retro Funding, everyone, anywhere putting the work in to improve Optimism is eligible for Retro Funding.

This network of contributors will continue to grow as more chains join the Superchain! Remember, contributing to the Superchain gives you and your users access to airdrops, and Retro Funding.

Get inspired to build

Knowing where to start building can be overwhelming. Don’t worry though, we have you covered! Head over to the Builder Ideas to see a curated list of Collective aligned project ideas, ranging from developer tooling to protocol experiments, and much more! These ideas have no guaranteed rewards, however by building them you may have a positive impact you can use to apply for Reto Funding.

Choose an idea from the list, build it, create impact, and you might get rewarded via Retro Funding for your impact!

If you are looking for a grant, you can find available grants here.

Building a fair internet

In essence, Retro Funding is not just about rewarding contributions—it's about building a fair, and more inclusive internet for all. Retro Funding is building an impact system, not a charity.

You can find more about the design decisions behind the next iteration of Retroactive Public Goods Funding, and share your thoughts and impressions, on the governance forum.

With four defined rounds in 2024, Retro Funding sets the stage for a more focused and impactful approach to incentivizing contributions. By aligning contributions with the broader goals of the ecosystem and providing clarity and transparency, we are empowering builders to shape the future of Optimism and drive meaningful change in the digital landscape. Together, let's build an impact-driven system where everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the design of the new internet.

And, as always,Stay Optimistic! 🔴✨