Tldr; Across is distributing 750,000 $OP in bridging rewards after receiving a grant from the Optimism Collective. Across users can earn $OP rewards when they bridge to Optimism, making transfers onto the network almost free of cost.
Key takeaways:
Across has begun distributing 750,000 $OP to bridgers when they transfer to Optimism.
Across users can receive 95% of their bridge fee back in $OP when they transfer to Optimism, heavily reducing bridging costs.
The initiative should strengthen the Optimism ecosystem while supporting the growth of the cross-chain ecosystem.
Across has had a longstanding commitment to Ethereum’s Layer 2 ecosystem. Across was built to enable seamless cross-chain interoperability. Offering fast and cheap transfers between mainnet and Layer 2 is crucial to achieving this mission. Across supports transfers to and from the leading Layer 2 networks today and will expand to more in the future.
One of Across’ first supported chains was Optimism. A front runner in the Ethereum scaling race, Optimism uses similar optimistic technology to that of UMA, the optimistic oracle that powers Across. Optimism also created the OP Stack, a utilitarian framework adopted by Base and several other new Layer 2s.
All of this is to say that Optimism is an anchor of the Ethereum ecosystem and Across is one of its key supporters. To strengthen the Optimism community and accelerate Across’ cross-chain interoperability ambitions, the Optimism Collective recently approved a proposal to distribute 750,000 $OP to Across users. $OP earning is now live, giving Across users an opportunity to negate their bridging costs when they transfer to Optimism. Learn more below.
About the proposal
When Optimism launched the $OP token, it announced plans to allocate grants to a number of projects. Across applied for an $OP grant. The goal was to help bridgers transfer to Optimism almost free of cost by subsidizing the majority of their bridge fee with $OP rewards. In turn, this would also help make the Optimism ecosystem more accessible.
Across Community Lead Brittany Madruga first presented a grant proposal to the Optimism Collective in July 2022. The proposal was later adjusted and approved in a governance vote.
On April 18, 2023, the Optimism Foundation sent 750,000 $OP to Across to reward bridgers moving onto Optimism. The funds are stored in this wallet on Optimism and will be distributed to subsidize Across users’ bridging fees until they run out. $OP earning is live now.
How to earn $OP through Across
The $OP grant will be used to subsidize users’ bridge fees when they move their assets onto Optimism. Across users transferring funds to the network will receive 95% of their bridge fee back in $OP, negating almost all of the cost of bridging onto the network.
NB: Across previously proposed to allocate a portion of the grant to relayers, though this plan was later adjusted to make moving onto Optimism more attractive for Across bridgers.
The Across interface will present the cost of transfers to Optimism by displaying a net fee. The net fee essentially constitutes 5% of the bridge fee and the destination gas fee. The below formula shows how the net fee is calculated:
Net fee = (Bridge fee + Destination gas fee) — OP Reward
Across users already benefit from low transfer fees due to the protocol’s intents framework and gas optimizations. This initiative heavily reduces those fees, cutting almost the entirety of the bridging fees.
Across users can earn $OP rewards now and then claim their accrued rewards monthly through the Rewards tab.
Across currently distributes $ACX rewards to users who successfully refer people to the solution. However, it is not possible to receive $ACX referral rewards and $OP rewards concurrently. Referrers bridging to Optimism will receive $OP by default.
The rewards are also available to Across users who bridge to Optimism via an aggregator.
Across users will be able to access the subsidy until the token supply runs out. With 750,000 $OP available, we can expect distribution to run into late 2024.
The optimistic future
The cross-chain future is optimistic. The ecosystem has grown at a rapid rate over the past few years, but Optimism remains one of its core projects. The Across $OP rewards initiative will strengthen the ecosystem while giving users a way to go cross-chain at an extremely low cost. Across already offers negligible gas fees. $OP reward recipients will only need to pay a small fee on top of the gas they spend to transfer to Optimism.
Many new Layer 2 solutions have surfaced this year, hinting at how the cross-chain future will look. Based on the recent developments, it’s reasonable to expect a surge in Layer 2 adoption over the next few years. That means interoperability solutions will be crucial. Across is fulfilling this demand today. For those looking to explore Optimism, there has never been a better time to use Across. Head here to bridge to the network now or say hi in our Discord server if you have any questions.
Words by @dreamsofdefi
