Optimism Overview: On-Chain Data, Token Unlocks, and Promising Projects
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Optimism Overview: On-Chain Data, Token Unlocks, and Promising Projects
Is now the time to research the $OP ecosystem and hunt for hidden alpha?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: zj.valz
Translation: TechFlow
Daily active users (DAUs) of $OP are increasing, TVL is rising, and smart money is flowing in. Is it time to dive into the $OP ecosystem and hunt for hidden alpha? Let’s jump down the rabbit hole and dissect the latest developments on this L2.
Smart Money Inflows
Over the past 7 days, smart money inflows into $OP reached $4.2 million—a signal observed by Onchain Wizard from ChainEdge—possibly driven by trading activity around OP's Bedrock upgrade and final week tasks.
$OP Trading Volume and TVL
-
OP fees surged, ranking fourth over the past 7 days—only behind BTC.
-
Overall TVL increased from $500M to $572M, up approximately 14% over the past two weeks.
-
OP daily transactions > Arbitrum.
OP Price Trends
-
Current price: $1.72
-
Current market cap: $377 million
-
FDV: $7.5 billion
-
The next major unlock—accounting for 3.6% of total supply—will occur in 135 days. This provides ample time for the OP ecosystem to gain momentum before predatory VCs enter the scene.
OP Ecosystem
As $OP gains popularity, here are the top 5 projects worth watching:
-
VelodromeFi: A Solidity-forked AMM on OP with the second-highest TVL.
-
Perpetual Protocol: A perp DEX offering over 15 trading pairs with real yield tokenomics.
-
Lyra Finance: An options trading platform.
-
Sonne Finance: Native lending protocol on OP with the deepest OP liquidity.
-
OPX: A low-market-cap perp DEX with real yield token economics.
Among all these projects, I believe Perpetual Protocol offers the highest risk-reward ratio, for the following reasons:
-
Perpetual Protocol offers traders up to 10x leverage.
-
Its clearinghouse manages trades and LPs while enabling leveraged positions.
-
Through its latest V2 exchange, trades settle on Uniswap V3 virtual token pools (e.g., vETH-vUSDC pool).
-
Current price: $1.68.
-
Current market cap: $43 million.
-
FDV: $68 million.
-
CMC/FDV ratio: 0.63.
Perpetual Protocol Metrics:
- Perpetual Protocol accounts for a significant portion of transactions occurring within $OP. As OP transaction volume grows, you can expect much of the fee revenue to flow into Perpetual Protocol.
Daily Active Users (DAUs):
-
Perpetual Protocol's DAUs have already surpassed those of GMX and Gains.
-
The perp DEX business model depends on trading volume, which is driven by user count.
-
Higher DAU → higher trading volume → more fees for the protocol and stakers.
- Traders are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with GMX's high fees (0.1% variable borrowing fee and 0.33% swap fee). These costs are eroding trader profits, and if traders shift to better alternatives like Perpetual Protocol, GMX's revenue could collapse.
P/E Ratio:
-
Perp has a lower P/E ratio than Gains Network (Perp: 7.96x, GNS: 8.83x), despite having only half the market cap.
-
Given its DAU growth trajectory, Perp’s upside potential appears highly attractive.
Total Value Locked (TVL):
- Perp holds around $17 million in USD value, remaining stable from end of 2022 through early 2023—indicating relatively sticky capital, a strong sign of product-market fit.
Insurance Fund / Clearinghouse:
-
The insurance fund continues to grow steadily, enhancing protocol resilience by ensuring traders are paid and eliminating bad debt.
-
While the clearinghouse declined alongside broader crypto market downturns, trading volume remained relatively stable.
$PERP Tokenomics
$PERP token distribution: All investor tokens have been issued and vested; team tokens vest over 30 months. The majority is allocated to ecosystem development and long-term holder incentives.
As a holder:
• Staking $PERP grants you vePERP. Once the insurance fund reaches its threshold, vePERP holders will receive 15% of protocol revenue.
• vePERP holders can also lock $PERP to earn 10% of total trading fees.
• I believe bullish sentiment around $PERP appears strong, driven by exiting early investors and aligned incentives among the DAO, team, stakers, and LPs.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
