How to Delegate Your Tokens

... About 3 min

# Why Delegate?

Participating in governance of the Optimism Token House can require a serious time commitment. For this reason, people are able to delegate the voting power of their OP tokens to a community member who has explicitly volunteered to play an active role in Token House governance. These volunteers are called delegates.

If you do not wish to delegate your voting power to a representative, you will still need to delegate to yourself in order to vote.

# How do I delegate my votes to a representative?

Choose a delegate (opens new window).

Take the time to read through delegate statements of interest, choosing your delegate is an important decision! A healthy governance system is good for Optimism and for all OP holders. Choosing a good delegate is in each OP token holder's best interest.

This delegate will vote on your behalf. You will not hold any voting power or execute your own votes but you will retain 100% ownership of your tokens, and can use them however you want.

View top delegates by voting weight on Dune (opens new window).
Go to the delegates app (opens new window) to see that you’ve delegated your tokens as intended.

Please note that delegate voting power is measured at the start of every voting period, which is every five weeks.
Your delegate should write up the reasoning behind their votes in a Delegate Communications Thread (opens new window).

Delegation is always in your control. You can return to the delegation app (opens new window) at any time to change your delegate selection.

# How do I delegate to myself?

Would you rather vote yourself? No problem, but you’ll have to delegate to yourself first! If you try to vote with your tokens but have not delegated to yourself, you will not be able to vote.

Delegate to yourself by registering via the Optimism Governance Portal (opens new window) following the delegate commitment template (opens new window)
Go to the delegates app (opens new window) to see that you’ve delegated your tokens to your own address.

Please note that delegate voting power is measured at the start of every voting period, which is every five weeks.
Once you’ve been added as a delegate in the next voting cycle, you can start voting (opens new window)!

# Step 1: Claim or purchase OP tokens

To check your eligibility for Airdrop #1, scroll to the bottom of this page (opens new window). If you didn’t qualify for Airdrop #1, don’t worry, there will be more.

Claim your tokens by visiting the airdrop app (opens new window). It doesn’t cost anything to claim the airdrop, except for gas fees. You will need to make sure you have some ETH on the Optimism network to pay for gas (0.003 is usually enough). Learn here how to deposit ETH to Optimism (opens new window).

Didn’t qualify or just want more OP? OP is available to buy on all major exchanges deployed on Optimism.

# Step 2: Delegate your tokens (to someone else or yourself)

Participating in governance of the Optimism Token House will require a serious time commitment. For this reason, The Optimism Foundation strongly encourages people to delegate the voting power of their OP tokens to a community member who has explicitly volunteered to play an active role in Token House governance. If you do not wish to delegate your voting power to a representative, you will still need to delegate to yourself in order to vote.

# Step 3: Join the conversation

Comment on the Forum (opens new window) and provide feedback on proposals.

Tips

Make sure you understand and follow the delegate code of conduct (opens new window)

# Step 4: Vote (if you are a delegate)

Go to the Optimism Governance Portal (opens new window), connect your wallet, and vote. There is no minimum OP holding voting requirement, but you will need to have the OP tokens you wish to delegate or vote with in your wallet when the voting measurment is taken. Tokens that are staked or LP’d at the time of measurement do not carry voting power.

The Optimistic Vision (opens new window) OP Economics