A Decline in User Activity Despite Airdrop of OP Tokens
Despite an attempt to boost investor confidence through an airdrop of 11.7 million OP tokens to over 300,000 wallets on February 9th, the price of the Layer 2 (L2) token Optimism (OP) continues to face a decline. According to a blog post by the Optimism Collective, the caretaker group of the layer 2 blockchain, the airdrop was made to users who delegated the voting power of their OP tokens and addresses that spent more than $6.10 on L2 gas since March 25th, 2022.
Quests Program Fails to Sustain User Engagement
In September 2022, Optimism introduced the Optimism Quests program, consisting of 18 tasks aimed at improving the user experience by guiding users through different features on the network such as swapping, lending, and staking. The program saw a significant increase in user numbers and daily transactions on the network upon its launch. However, since the conclusion of the Quests on January 17th, the daily transaction count on the Optimism roll-up platform has significantly decreased.
Arbitrum Surpasses Optimism in Daily Transactions
Data from IntoTheBlock reveals that the daily transaction count of Arbitrum has surpassed that of Optimism, with Arbitrum now having a greater number of transacting wallets, more than double that of Optimism. According to Dune Analytics, the number of daily active addresses on Optimism has decreased since the conclusion of its Quests program, while the number of daily active addresses on Arbitrum has increased.
A Lack of Buying Momentum Despite Airdrop
An assessment of OP’s performance on the daily chart reveals a steady decline in buying momentum since the airdrop, with less liquidity in the OP market causing momentum indicators to breach their neutral zones and potentially leading to a further decline in OP’s price.