Optimism Price Prediction 2024: OP Holders Make Money Despite Downturn

Key Takeaways

• Optimism’s OP token has been on an recovery lately.
• The majority of the layer 2 scaling solution’s token holders are in profit.
• Can OP grow further?
• One Optimism price prediction says it can reach $10.62 next year.

The Optimism layer 2 scaling solution and its OP token went on an upturn in late 2023. With Ethereum (ETH) getting ready to launch its Dencun upgrade, Optimism has seen some good price action. 

This follows on from a rise in people using the network after it started hosting the hotly-anticipated Worldcoin (WLD) privacy token, more and more people have been using the network.

Indeed, Worldcoin helped Optimism gather more traffic, with its daily transactions topping  one of its biggest rivals, Arbitrum (ARB) in late July. 

In 2024, data from Intotheblock  showed that, despite a fall in price in the first few weeks of January, nearly 90% of OP holders were making a profit on their investment.

On January 26, OP was worth about $3.10.

Optimism did not immediately respond to a request for comment

But what is Optimism (OP)? How does Optimism work? Let’s see what we can find out, and also take a look at some of the Optimism Price Predictions that were being made as of January 26 2024.

Optimism Price Prediction

Let’s examine some of the Optimism price predictions being made on January 26 2024. It is crucial to bear in mind that price forecasts, particularly for a potentially volatile asset like cryptocurrency, often turn out to be inaccurate. Additionally, please remember that many long-term crypto price predictions are generated using algorithms, which means they can change at any time.

First, CoinCodex  had a short-term Optimism price prediction which said the token would drop to $2.96 by January 31 before recovering to $3.12 by February 25. The site’s technical analysis was neutral, with 20 indicators making bullish signals and eight making bearish ones. 

Optimism Price Prediction for 2024

DigitalCoinPrice  said Optimism would reach $6.41 in 2024. Bitnation  said OP would stand at $7.59, while PricePrediction.net  had it trading at $4.48 this year. 

Optimism Forecast for 2025

Bitnation said Optimism would get to $10.62 in 2025. DigitalCoinPrice was lower in its Optimism price forecast, with it saying it would trade at $7.59. PricePrediction.net said that OP would be worth $6.90 in two years time.

Optimism Forecast for 2030

Moving on to a more long-term Optimism price prediction, PricePrediction.net said the token would be worth $42.59. DigitalCoinPrice thought it would reach $22.30. Meanwhile, Bitnation had an OP price prediction for 2030 that saw the crypto reach $25.79 at the start of the next decade. 

Google BardAI Price Prediction for Optimism (as of January 26)

Google’s BardAI platform gave the following price prediction for Optimism on January 26. Please remember that price predictions are very often wrong, and that artificial intelligence should not be trusted. 

Short-term (Next 3 months):

• Neutral to slightly bullish: OP may fluctuate between $2.80 and $3.50.
• Reasons:
  • Upcoming token unlocks (February & March) could put downward pressure.
  • Potential growth in DeFi and NFT activity on Optimism could counteract selling pressure.
  • Overall market sentiment and broader crypto trends will heavily influence movement.

Medium-term (Next 6 months):

• Moderately bullish: OP could reach $4-$5.
• Reasons:
  • Increased platform usage and adoption beyond DeFi and NFTs.
  • Launch of new Optimism ecosystem projects and collaborations.
  • Potential positive impact of upcoming Ethereum Shanghai upgrade on Layer 2 scaling solutions.

Long-term (Next 1-2 years):

• Highly bullish: OP could potentially reach $8-$12.
• Reasons:
  • Widespread adoption of Optimism as a leading Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum.
  • Growth of mainstream crypto and DeFi activity driving demand for faster and cheaper transactions.
  • Successful implementation of Optimism’s roadmap including governance improvements and developer tools.

Important Caveats:

• Cryptocurrency price predictions are inherently uncertain and should not be treated as financial advice.
• Unexpected events like regulatory changes, security breaches, or market crashes can significantly impact any crypto’s price.
• Conducting your own research and considering market sentiment is crucial before making any investment decisions.

Additional factors to consider:

• Development progress and adoption of Optimism’s governance features.
• Success of Optimism’s ecosystem projects and integrations.
• Overall growth and outlook of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Optimism 

Blockchain analytics company Messari  recently released its quarterly report on Optimism. It highlighted that the system was looking at becoming more decentralized, and outlined some key advantages and disadvantages of the platform.

It said that between July and September 2023, Optimism had

• A circulating market cap of $860 million, up from $286 million year-on-year and from $831 million quarter-on-quarter.
• 96,200 active daily addresses, up from 15,600 year-on-year and from 69,600 quarter-on-quarter.
• Decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked (TVL) of $800 million, down from $1.7 billion year-on-year and from $1 billion quarter-on-quarter.
• Revenue of $84 million, up from $1.9 million year-on-year but down from $12.5 million quarter-on-quarter.

Advantages of Optimism

Messari said Optimism

• Was able to outperform the market in the quarter.
• Had more people using it than ever before.
• Had made its transaction fees lower.

Disadvantages of Optimism

Messari also said Optimism

• Needed to diversify away from DeFi.
• Saw its stablecoin market cap drop.
• Would benefit from more people locking their money in a wider range of DeFi platforms.

OP Price History

Now, let’s take a look at the Optimism price history . While we should never take past performance as an indicator of future results, knowing what the token has achieved can provide us with some very useful context if we want to make or interpret an Optimism price prediction.

When OP first launched via an airdrop on May 31 2022, it was worth $4.56. Crypto traders thought that this price was, perhaps ironically, optimistic, and the price dropped. The problems were exacerbated when the Celsius crypto lending platform canceled withdrawals and, on 18 June 2022, OP reached an all-time low of $0.4005. 

There was some recovery throughout the rest of the year. It broke past $1 in late July and it hovered around the dollar. OP closed the year at $0.9172.

Optimism in 2023 and 2024

2023 was a better year for crypto, but that did not mean that there were not any challenges. Optimism broke past the dollar in January and reached a high of $3.26 on February 24. This was the highest OP had traded at since the day it launched.

Following that OP dropped down. It suffered in the aftermath of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suing the Binance and Coinbase crypto exchanges. On June 10, Crypto.com announced that it was suspending its US institutional operations and OP fell to $1.05.

Since then, OP has recovered. In July, the news that a judge had ruled that Ripple’s XRP coin was not a security if it was sold on exchanges gave it a boost. With Optimism benefitting from excitement surrounding the Worldview coin, it rallied to a high of $1.81 on August 8. Although it then dropped to $1.28 on August 17, it soon recovered to about $1.55 on August 23. A further downturn saw it sink to $1.16 on October 19. A recovery later on in the year saw OP close 2023 at $3.70.  This meant it rose more than 300% over the course of the year. 

Things have been a little less good in 2024 so far. By January 26, Optimism was worth about $3.10.

At that time, there were 957.3 million Optimism in circulation out of a total supply of 4.2 billion. This gave the token a market cap of around $2.9 billion, making it the 27th-largest crypto by that metric. 

Optimism price analysis

OP went on an uptrend in late 2023, with the price testing its resistance in December. 

The interaction ended in rejection, and we saw a downturn of nearly 38%, reaching $2.70 on January 23. This drop suggests that any downtrend is over, though, because it has bounced. 

In the future, two things can happen. Either the drop was a correction, which would mean that OP will hit new heights. Otherwise, the current bounce is a correction, which could mean it could fall below $2.

Is Optimism a Good Investment?

It is hard to say. On one hand, OP had a strong late 2023. The news that the platform has, at various points over the last year, enjoyed more daily transactions and cheaper fees than Arbitrum will also encourage investors. 

On the other hand, we don’t know whether Optimism will be able to build on recent growth. There is also the elephant in the room. Ethereum has run on a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism since September 2022, so we have to wonder whether the era of layer 2 scaling solutions is coming to an end. 

As ever with crypto, you will need to make sure you do your own research before deciding whether or not to invest in OP.

Will Optimism go up or down?

No one can really tell right now. While the Optimism crypto price predictions are largely positive, price predictions have a well-earned reputation for being wrong. Keep in mind, too, that prices can, and do, go down as well as up. 

Should I invest in Optimism?

Before you decide whether or not to invest in Optimism, you will have to do your own research, not only on OP, but on other, related, coins and tokens such as Arbitrum or Mantle (MNT). Either way, you will also need to make sure that you never invest more money than you can afford to lose.

Who are the Founders of Optimism?

Jinglan Wang, Ben Jones, Karl Floersch and Kevin Ho proposed Optimism in 2019 and released it in 2021.

Who Owns the Most Optimism (OP) Tokens?

On January 26 2024, one wallet held more than 30% of OP’s supply.

Richest OP Wallet Addresses

As of January 26 2024, the five wallets with the most Optimism tokens were

• 0x2a82ae142b2e62cb7d10b55e323acb1cab663a26. This wallet held 1,294,044,371 OP, or 30.13% of the supply.
• 0x2501c477d0a35545a387aa4a3eee4292a9a8b3f0. This wallet, listed as Optimism: Foundation, held 859,832,939 OP, or 20.02% of the supply.
• 0x790b4086d106eafd913e71843aed987efe291c92. This wallet held 219,320,032 OP, or 5.11% of the supply.
• 0x6ba2c3b591ac4be15cda66b305db4f03e7ff7c9f. This wallet held 174,161,584 OP, or 4.05% of the supply.
• 0xacf32f4e1260636cf1e3066c060c74ad52fe4e9e. This wallet held 107,733,005 OP, or 2.51% of the supply.

Fact Box

From the Whitepaper

In its technical documentation, or whitepaper , Optimism says that it is, in effect, something called an optimistic roll-up. 

It says: “Optimism is an “Optimistic Rollup,” which is basically just a fancy way of describing a blockchain that piggy-backs off of the security of another “parent” blockchain. Specifically, Optimistic Rollups take advantage of the consensus mechanism (like Proof-of-Work or Proof-of-Stake) of their parent chain instead of providing their own. In OP Mainnet’s case this parent blockchain is Ethereum.”

Optimism (OP) Explained

Although the Ethereum blockchain is the second largest crypto platform, behind only Bitcoin (BTC), it has not been without its problems. In the past, Ethereum was notorious for slowing down when the network was busy. This cost people time and, perhaps more importantly, money.

A range of layer 2 scaling solutions, programs which take a transaction off the main blockchain, carry it out elsewhere, and put it back on the system, were founded to solve this problem. 

The OP token, which came onto the open market in 2022, supports the platform.  

How Optimism Works

Optimism uses something called optimistic roll-ups to verify transactions. This means that transactions are treated as being valid, with all verifications taking place on the blockchain. 

The OP token is used to pay for transactions on the platform. Holders can also vote on changes to the Optimism protocol. It can also be bought, sold, and traded on crypto exchanges. 

Since Optimism is based on Ethereum, it is a token, not a coin. You might see references to such things as an Optimism coin price prediction, but these are wrong. 

Optimism Attention Tracker

Here is a chart for Optimism (OP) Google search volume for the past 90 days. This represents how many times the term “Optimism (OP)” has been Googled over the previous 90 days.

FAQs 

Disclaimer 

Please note that the contents of this article are not financial or investing advice. The information provided in this article is the author’s opinion only and should not be considered as offering trading or investing recommendations. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information. The cryptocurrency market suffers from high volatility and occasional arbitrary movements. Any investor, trader, or regular crypto users should research multiple viewpoints and be familiar with all local regulations before committing to an investment.

About the Author

Peter Henn

Peter Henn has been a journalist since 2005. In that time, he has written for a variety of publishers including the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Express. He has previously covered the world of cryptocurrency for Currency.com and Capital.com, and has also written for ECigIntelligence.com and CBD-Intel.com. A graduate of the University of Liverpool, he is based in the United Kingdom. His hobbies include music, horse racing and performance art.

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