Optimism (OP) cryptocurrency exchange rate

The Optimism project, also known as OP Mainnet, has become one of the leaders among Layer-2 (L2) solutions designed to eliminate the Ethereum blockchain's scalability problem.

Market emergence and correction (2022 — 2023)

Although Optimism's core network was launched in 2021, its native token was only listed on exchanges in June 2022. At the time of listing, Optimism's cryptocurrency price was $1.44.

Initially, OP tokens were distributed to active participants in the Optimism ecosystem, which could be the main reason for the altcoin's post-listing decline. In less than a month, it has dropped almost three times to its all-time low of $0.40, which still stands today as of January 2025. This drop was likely exacerbated by the Terra blockchain crash earlier in May.

Until July, OP token quotes fluctuated between $0.40 and $0.50, but then they began to grow rapidly and reached a new all-time high (ATH) of $1.99 in early August. However, after that, the value of the OP cryptocurrency plummeted again, first to $1.01 at the end of August and then to $0.67 in October 2022.

In November of the same year, the value of the Optimism cryptocurrency rose sharply to $1.02, even though there were no objective reasons for this. However, in the same month, the OP rate collapsed again to $0.78 amid negative news about the possible bankruptcy of one of the three most significant crypto exchanges on the market, FTX, which eventually happened at the end of November.

Until January 2023, the OP cryptocurrency's exchange rate varied between $0.9 and $1.15. Then, it began to grow rapidly and reached a new all-time high of $3.09 in February. The launch of a major cross-chain protocol, Wormhole, and Kado Ramp, a payment infrastructure based on the Optimism network, may have contributed to this.

Then, after several corrections and attempts to return to its ATH level in April 2023, the value of the OP cryptocurrency began to fall rapidly, and by June of the same year, it had fallen to $1.09.

By August, OP token quotes rose to $1.79 amid increased demand for cryptocurrencies from whale investors. Also, as analysts note, the popularity of meme tokens in the Base ecosystem, which is based on Optimism technology, could have influenced the growth of the OP token. However, soon, the cost of OP began to decline again, and already in October 2023, it fell to $1.17.

At the end of October, the growth of Optimism token quotes resumed amid the general rise of the cryptocurrency market, caused, according to financial experts, by such factors as:

• Uncertainty in the global economy;
• Growing interest from institutional investors;
• Positive expectations about the approval and imminent launch of Bitcoin-ETF by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC);
• Weakening of the U.S. dollar.

In addition to external economic factors, Optimism's cryptocurrency growth may have been influenced by:

• The launch of early access to Optimism's L2-based Blast network;
• The two phases of OP token distribution during the airdrop;
• Activation of the Delta upgrade on the Optimism network.

New phase of crypto market growth (2024 — 2025)

By the end of 2023, the value of the OP token rose to $2.81. After a minor correction, the growth continued, and in early January 2024, the value of the Optimism cryptocurrency rose to $3.99, reaching a new all-time high.

After a correction at the end of January and a drop to $2.85, the OP token rate resumed growth and reached a new ATH of $4.85 in March. However, a correction followed in the crypto market, which led to a rapid decline in the quotes of digital assets. This was due to several factors:

• Inflation fears and rising U.S. Treasury bond yields, which caused uncertainty among investors;
• Withdrawal of large amounts of cryptocurrencies to exchanges by major players;
• Geopolitical tensions.

Finally, after such a rapid rise, a correction is a natural process that balances the market. By April 2024, the OP cryptocurrency exchange rate had dropped to $2.12.

After a brief rebound and growth to $2.90 in May, the value of the Optimism token continued to fall, reaching a one-year low of $1.19 in August, after which it began to recover gradually.

In November, amid news of Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential race, the cryptocurrency market began to recover. In December 2024, the price of the OP cryptocurrency rose to $2.66.

As of January 2025, the Optimism token is worth $1.81 and has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion.