TL;DR
On Optimism, Season 9 kicks off a clear shift from experimentation to execution: Governance Fund Missions focus on growing DEX TVL and trading efficiency for lending-related collateral pairs across the Superchain, while broader governance changes remove Intents, pause Retro Funding, and narrow community-led capital allocation in favor of mission-driven oversight of OP Labs. Council leads also request a repricing of Season 9 operating budgets to offset OP’s sharp decline against ETH, arguing that without adjustment, councils would be unable to deliver on mandates approved in real terms.
On Arbitrum, OpCo’s January update highlights continued operational ramp-up, including key hires, ownership of the RAD delegate incentives program, progress toward launching the Firestarter pilot, and active coordination with Entropy on incentive design. Separately, a new Guild Reputation Engine launches an on-chain MVP aimed at making gaming guild incentives more objective by aggregating balances and governance activity into verifiable reputation scores.
On ZKsync, a refresher on the ZKnomics Token Staking Pilot outlines a six-month program tying staking rewards to active governance delegation, positioning staking as both a participation incentive and foundational infrastructure for a future decentralized sequencer, while raising questions around the quality of governance engagement driven by yield.
On Polygon, the Community Treasury transitions to a leaner model: the Community Treasury Board moves into an advisory role, with the Foundation setting strategy and Polygon Labs executing day-to-day operations, reflecting a broader ecosystem-wide trend toward faster execution and clearer accountability at the cost of reduced direct community control.
Optimism
Season 9 Governance Fund Missions
The Optimism Foundation published the Season 9 Governance Fund Missions, setting the direction for funding for the Grants Council and Developer Advisory Board in the next season. Both missions align around a shared growth goal: increasing DEX TVL and trading efficiency for collateral–borrow pairs on lending markets such as Aave and Morpho.
In Season 9, grants and incentives are expected to be Superchain-wide, open to any OP Chain contributing revenue to the Collective. Budgets will be finalized by the Budget Board, with Season 8 benchmarks at ~6.29M OP for the Grants Council and ~949k OP for the Developer Advisory Board. Selection frameworks remain discretionary but must be published in advance, and outcomes will be evaluated at the end of the season using on-chain metrics from OP Labs or Open Source Observer.
Guide to Season 9
The Optimism Foundation published a Guide to Season 9, outlining how governance will operate from January 29 to June 3, with the theme “From Experiment to Organization.” Season 9 marks a shift toward a more execution-focused model, building on Season 8 milestones, including Protocol Upgrades 2.0, the Security Council’s control of the Governor contract, and the introduction of the Budget Board and DAO operating budgets.
Key changes include the removal of Intents, continued use of Missions with predefined success metrics, and a major strategic pivot away from community-led capital allocation. Retro Funding is paused for at least 12 months; several community grant experiments and contribution paths are deprecated; and governance’s primary role is reframed to hold OP Labs accountable rather than directly allocating capital. The Foundation also signals upcoming proposals to reallocate Retro Funding reserves and notes that Season 9 will be the final Reflection Period, with the aim of a steadier, lower-overhead governance model going forward.
L2BEAT’s Take
From our perspective, Season 9 reflects a broader shift in many DAOs toward governance that is more focused on organization and execution. After several seasons of experimentation, Optimism’s decision to simplify structures, reduce contribution pathways, and emphasize missions with clear success metrics is a pragmatic attempt to improve efficiency, accountability, and predictability as the Collective grows.
At the same time, this approach comes with some trade-offs. Concentrating execution and capital allocation in fewer hands and pausing community-led funding reduces the space for experimentation and community participation that were the bedrock of previous seasons. Whether this model sticks will depend on how effectively governance oversight, transparency, and feedback loops compensate for the reduction in decentralization in day-to-day decision-making.
S8 to S9 Council Budget Reprice Request
PGov, together with Gonna.eth, Wildmolasses, and Alisha submitted a request on behalf of the leads of Optimism’s Season 8 councils (Milestones and Metrics, Grants Council, Developer Advisory Board, and Security Council), asking the Budget Board to reprice council operating budgets ahead of Season 9. The request follows Governance Update #11, which noted that a midpoint adjustment could be considered if market conditions shifted materially.
When the budgets for Seasons 8 and 9 were approved in mid-2025, council allocations were calibrated using an ETH-denominated reference rate of roughly 1 ETH = 4,580 OP to preserve real-value parity with prior seasons. By the end of Season 8, the rate had moved to around 1 ETH = 11,000 OP, meaning OP-denominated budgets now represent less than half of their intended ETH and USD value. The authors argue that, without an adjustment, councils may need to reduce approved mandates and that stipends would fall materially below what governance originally voted in, in real terms. They propose increasing Season 9 OP allocations to restore the original value assumptions, requesting an additional 3,121,085 OP across the four councils.
Arbitrum
OpCo January 2026 Update
Frisson, on behalf of the OpCo Oversight and Transparency Committee (OAT), shared a January update focused on hiring, operations, and DAO coordination. OpCo is recruiting for key roles, including Legal Counsel, Director of Finance and Treasury, and Head of OpCo Foundation, while Tamara and Sinkas continue driving day-to-day execution.
Recent work includes taking ownership of the RAD delegate incentive program, progressing KYC and legal agreements, preparing the Firestarter pilot for launch, and gathering delegate feedback through a sentiment retrospective. OpCo is also fulfilling its oversight role in Entropy-related proposals and is actively negotiating incentive mechanisms with Entropy Advisors, backed by a 10M ARB allocation.
Introducing Guild Reputation Engine: On-Chain Scoring for Arbitrum Gaming Guilds (Live MVP + API)
Tobiasbond has shared a post that outlines that a new Guild Reputation Engine has launched an on-chain MVP to improve how Arbitrum gaming guilds measure contributions and distribute incentives. The tool aggregates on-chain balances and Snapshot voting data to generate verifiable reputation scores, tiers, and badges, with the goal of reducing sybil risk and making rewards more objective.
The MVP is live with an open API and public repository, and the roadmap includes Discord integration, game-specific metrics, and privacy-preserving upgrades. The project is seeking community feedback and potential support via Arbitrum Gaming Ventures.
Upcoming Events
Entropy Advisors - biweekly office hours - on 13.1 at 17:15 UTC.
Arbitrum Reporting Governance Call (GRC) - on 14.1 at 16:00 UTC.
ZKSync
Refresher on ZKnomics Token Staking Pilot
Cliffton has shared a refresher on the upcoming ZKnomics Token Staking Pilot, a 6-month program designed to incentivize governance participation while laying the groundwork for a future decentralized sequencer. Tokenholders can stake ZK, delegate to active governance participants, and earn rewards, with no lock-up period.
The pilot will run across two seasons in Q1 and Q2 2026, distributing up to 35M ZK in total. Rewards start at 3% annually and can increase up to 10% to meet participation targets. Eligibility requires delegating to an “active” delegate, defined as having voted in at least 2 of the last 5 proposals, directly tying staking rewards to sustained governance engagement.
L2BEAT’s Take
Linking participation rewards to “active” delegation creates a clear incentive to increase participation, but it can also encourage voting simply to be eligible rather than to make informed decisions. A low activity threshold (2 out of the last 5 votes) risks favoring consistency over quality and could concentrate voting power around delegates who vote reliably, regardless of the substance of their contributions.
Discuss with L2BEAT
You can find us to discuss everything related to ZkSync’s governance, from current initiatives to high-level conversations, during our L2BEAT Governance Office Hours every Friday at 3 pm UTC.
Upcoming Events
Standing ZKsync Proposal Review Call - on 14.1 at 16:30 UTC.
Polygon
Transitioning the Community Treasury for Polygon’s Next Phase
0xMattie from PolygonLabs has posted that Polygon is transitioning the Community Treasury to a leaner structure as the ecosystem enters its next phase. The Community Treasury Board (CTB) will move from a governing role to an advisory role, while the Polygon Foundation will define long-term treasury strategy and Polygon Labs will handle day-to-day execution, with biannual transparency reports to the community.
The change reflects Polygon’s view that the ecosystem has matured beyond its early, experimentation-heavy phase, and now requires faster execution, clearer accountability, and tighter alignment between spending and strategy. Technical changes and community feedback will continue through the PIP process.
L2BEAT’s take
This change reflects a broader trend among mature DAOs toward more execution-focused structures, with clearer ownership and faster decision-making. Moving treasury strategy to the Foundation and execution to Labs can reduce coordination costs and make accountability more explicit, especially now that Polygon’s priorities are narrower than during its early growth phase.
At the same time, this change clearly reduces the community’s direct control over treasury decisions. While maintaining the CTB as an advisory body and committing to biannual reporting help preserve transparency and institutional memory, these mechanisms are largely retrospective. Whether this model strikes the right balance will depend on how seriously advisory input is taken in practice and whether community reports and feedback meaningfully shape strategy, rather than merely documenting outcomes after the fact.
Scroll
Active Votes
Governance Framework Update (Scroll DAO 2.0) - ends on January 15 at 13:26 UTC.
Scroll’s governance hasn’t seen any new developments over the last week. If you believe we might have missed something, please let us know.
Discuss with L2BEAT
You can find us to discuss everything related to Scroll’s governance, from current initiatives to high-level conversations, during our L2BEAT Governance Office Hours every Friday at 3 pm UTC.
Upcoming Events
Weekly DAO & Governance Call - on 14.1 at 15:00 UTC.
Uniswap
Uniswap’s governance hasn’t seen any new developments over the last week. If you believe we might have missed something, please let us know.
Upcoming Events
Uniswap Community Call - on 13.1 at 15:00 UTC.
Starknet
Starknet’s governance hasn’t seen any new developments over the last week. If you believe we might have missed something, please let us know.
Discuss with L2BEAT
You can find us to discuss everything related to Starknets governance, from current initiatives to high-level conversations, during our L2BEAT Governance Office Hours every Friday at 3 pm UTC.
Wormhole
Wormhole’s governance hasn’t seen any new developments over the last week. If you believe we might have missed something, please let us know.
Discuss with L2BEAT
You can find us to discuss everything related to Wormhole’s governance, from current initiatives to high-level conversations, during our L2BEAT Governance Office Hours every Friday at 3 pm UTC.
Everclear
Everclear’s governance hasn’t seen any new developments over the last week. If you believe we might have missed something, please let us know.
Discuss with L2BEAT
You can find us to discuss everything related to Everclear’s governance, from current initiatives to high-level conversations, during our L2BEAT Governance Office Hours every Friday at 3 pm UTC.
Hop
Hop’s governance hasn’t seen any new developments over the last week. If you believe we might have missed something, please let us know.
Discuss with L2BEAT
You can find us to discuss everything related to Lisk’s governance, from current initiatives to high-level conversations, during our L2BEAT Governance Office Hours every Friday at 3 pm UTC.
Upcoming Events
Hop Community Call - on 7.1 at 18:00.
Lisk
Lisk’s governance hasn’t seen any new developments over the last week. If you believe we might have missed something, please let us know.
Discuss with L2BEAT
You can find us to discuss everything related to Lisk’s governance, from current initiatives to high-level conversations, during our L2BEAT Governance Office Hours every Friday at 3 pm UTC.