Optimism Mainnet Adjusts Transaction Ordering Rules for the First Time
Optimism announced today that it is adjusting the transaction ordering rules on the OP mainnet for the first time, having previously used a "highest priority Gas fee first" mechanism for many years. A new staking-based priority ordering option has now been added.
This experiment will last for four weeks (until June 23) and has been approved by the governance body. Users can choose to participate by staking at least 100,000 OP tokens to the PolicyEngineStaking contract.
The first phase (Week 1) will use FIFO (First In, First Out) ordering; the second phase (Weeks 2-4) will switch to a priority Gas multiplier mechanism weighted by staking duration, where longer staking times result in higher priority. Users who do not participate will maintain the original PGA mechanism.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Optimism has long relied on a pure Gas fee priority ordering system. The introduction of a staking-weighted mechanism continues its exploration of combining governance experiments with MEV mitigation and economic incentives, aiming to provide network benefits to OP holders while maintaining decentralization.
On the capital front, Optimism is mobilizing OP holders' funds to participate in priority ordering through the PolicyEngineStaking contract, with the goal of enhancing network security and user retention, while accumulating data for more complex ordering mechanisms in the future, favoring long-term stakers.
Similar governance adjustments to ordering mechanisms have been seen in other Layer 2 solutions like Arbitrum, as well as incentive designs in Restaking projects like EigenLayer. Optimism is currently in a transitional experimental phase from pure Gas auctions to staking-driven ordering.
Essentially, this represents capital concentration: staking-based priority ordering partially shifts the allocation of network resources to long-term OP holders, incentivizing long-term capital lock-up through duration weighting, reducing short-term speculative ordering competition, and promoting the evolution of Layer 2 economics from pure Gas fee-driven to staking governance and MEV sharing.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
Ordering rights have never been free; staking is the true ticket to entry.
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