Optimism CEO Admits Failure: Project Reboot After OP Price Drops 90%

The CEO and co-founder of Optimism, known by the nickname Optimist Prime, posted on X admitting the company's strategic missteps. According to him, Optimism "did too much and focused too little," leading to resource overuse and the OP token price plummeting into the "sewer." This statement has resonated in the community but also signals the start of a new era for the project, geared toward institutional investors and real-world assets.

Launching Networks Without a Strategy

As stated in the CEO's post, Optimism aggressively expanded its ecosystem by launching several Layer-2 networks based on OP Stack - an open framework for creating scalable blockchains on Ethereum. Among them:

• Base from Coinbase: One of the most successful L2 networks, attracting millions of users through integration with the popular exchange. According to Alchemy, Base exemplifies OP Stack's application for mass-market apps.
• Unichain from Uniswap: Launched in February 2025, focused on DeFi with fast transactions and cross-chain liquidity. Per CoinDesk, Unichain uses Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) for optimized trading.
• Worldchain from World (Sam Altman's project from OpenAI): Started in October 2024, aimed at user verification and financial access, integrating biometrics to distinguish humans from bots.
• Ink from Kraken: A new L2 from the crypto exchange Kraken, joining the Superchain to scale Ethereum to internet levels.
• Soneium from Sony: Developed in January 2025 by a joint venture between Sony and Startale, targeted at entertainment and corporate applications.

These networks are part of the Superchain - Optimism's unified ecosystem with over 30 partners. As noted by OAK Research, OP Stack dominates the L2 rollup market, handling over 62% of all transactions in this segment. However, the CEO admitted the company "overhired employees without a clear strategy" and "wallowed in tactics," relying on past successes but failing to build an "operational mechanism" for sustainable growth. As a result, in a shifting market with regulatory uncertainties and competition (from Solana, Arbitrum, Avalanche), the project lost momentum.

Price Collapse

Amid these issues, the OP token price suffered greatly. According to the provided information and our analysis of historical data (from CoinGecko and similar sources):

• OP dropped 76% from its first-day trading price (May 2022, when the token started around $1.4-2 USD after airdrop).
• From its all-time high (ATH) of $4.85 (March 2024), the decline was 90%, with the current price around $0.48-0.50 USD at the time of writing (November 2025). This is backed by market data: from ATH, a -89.7% change; from initial, -75.8% (adjusted for volatility).

Reasons? Overspending OP on "useless projects" (as one commenter in the thread noted), lack of focus, and the overall bear market.

However, as the CEO emphasized, "it doesn't matter who's to blame – the world has changed, and we're adapting."

Reorganization and New Goals

In response to the crisis, Optimism restructured: laid off part of the team (parted ways with "many talented colleagues"), consolidated execution under one entity, and rebuilt engineering and sales departments. The goals are now clear and focused on long-term growth:

1. OP Stack has already proven itself in enterprises, offering greater reliability than competitors. Partnership with Flashbots (August 2025) introduced 200ms confirmations and Rollup-Boost for super-fast transactions.
2. Emphasis on enterprises, where Optimism excels thanks to experience with Base. As stated in the post, "enterprises want to control their own economy, not be tenants on someone else's blockchain."
3. Sequencers are a key revenue source in L2. Optimism plans to optimize asset productivity, including decentralized sequencers and Contract Secured Revenue (CSR), as described in reports from BNB Static and ByteTree.

The CEO is confident: "OP Stack will beat everyone," citing unique experience in enterprise blockchain. Competition is fierce, but Superchain provides an edge in interoperability.