Base migration and its impact on Superchain revenue

Base contributed 3,765 ETH to the Optimism Collective in 2025, an amount that accounted for more than 70% of all Superchain revenue-share contributions during that year. This massive contribution shows the structural risk facing the Optimism ecosystem after Base migrated to its own codebase on February 18, 2026. The Superchain revenue-sharing model mandates that every participating chain contributes the greater of 2.5% of gross sequencer revenue or 15% of net profit after L1 gas costs. Base previously relied on the OP Stack, but its transition to a self-managed stack ends its revenue-sharing obligation to the Collective. You already know that high-volume rollups drive the entire economic model of the Superchain. The reduction in revenue from Base means the remaining forty chains must provide the bulk of the funding required for public goods and ecosystem development projects and community governance and network infrastructure and operational stability. Optimism originally promised Base up to 118 million OP tokens over six years, which accounts for 2.75% of the total OP supply, to ensure long-term alignment with the Superchain. The revenue split considers fee revenue minus L1 gas fees to determine the net profit.

Sequencer economics and the buyback plan

Base processed 292 million user operations during the 30 days ending September 7, 2026, while paying only $8,800 to Ethereum for settlement. This volume includes swaps, contract calls, and account abstraction batches. The massive transaction volume shows the efficiency of the OP Stack architecture, but it also challenges the Optimism Collective to find new revenue streams. The Optimism Foundation proposed a new economic direction in January 2026 to address the disconnect between network usage and the OP token. This proposal authorizes a 12-month program that directs 50% of incoming Superchain revenue toward monthly, over-the-counter purchases of OP tokens. The plan includes guardrails to pause monthly conversions if the Collective generates less than $200,000 in revenue in a single month.

The Collective collected 5,868 ETH in revenue over the past 12 months, which provides a baseline for these new economic experiments. This total includes revenue from various OP Stack chains like Zora, Mode, and Worldchain. The migration of the largest member creates uncertainty for the Collective’s ability to fund public goods through Retroactive Public Goods Funding, which remains a primary way the ecosystem supports its developers. The proposed buyback program aims to create a tighter feedback loop where increased usage of the Superchain generates revenue, which in turn creates consistent buying pressure for the OP token. The purchased OP will not be burned under the approved program but will be held in the Collective treasury alongside the remaining ETH. This mechanism will be overseen by the Token House and the Citizens’ House to ensure the funds serve the community.

Long-term stability and the Superchain

The Superchain currently holds $15.7 billion in total value locked across more than 40 chains. Base commands $14.42 billion of this total as of September 7, 2026, while Arbitrum One holds $12.6 billion. Arbitrum remains the liquidity king, holding about 40% of all Layer 2 DeFi capital and roughly $15.9 billion in total value secured. Optimism Mainnet maintains $1.8 billion in total value locked. The loss of Base as the primary revenue source makes the Superchain’s financial future precarious. The removal of Base as the largest revenue source forces the remaining forty chains in the Superchain to provide the bulk of the funding required for public goods and ecosystem development projects and infrastructure support. Base processes more than 37% of all rollup transactions. This activity helps maintain the Superchain’s position in the market, but the loss of its revenue share remains a central concern for governance. The Optimism Collective continues to support the ecosystem through various grant programs and the Citizens’ House. The Superchain includes a variety of participants, such as Worldchain, which has onboarded 15 million verified humans since its October 2024 launch, and Zora, which expands its Ethereum-based project for millions of creators. Can the Superchain sustain its current growth trajectory if more flagship partnerships follow Base’s lead?