Share this article
A Mysterious A16z Tweet Sparked a Rally in Crypto Project Optimism's OP Token
The tweet spurred speculation that the notable venture capital firm could launch its own Optimism-based layer 2 blockchain. A16z crypto’s CTO tweeted: “not an L2.”
By Brandy Betz
Updated May 9, 2023, 4:12 a.m. Published Apr 18, 2023, 9:17 p.m.
The native token of the Optimism blockchain, OP, rallied after an engineer at the crypto arm of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) tweeted out a picture of an orange circle, accompanied by “coming soon.”
coming soon 🟠 pic.twitter.com/8kADUuervL
— ncitron.eth (@NoahCitron) April 18, 2023
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The color of the circle in the tweet matched that commonly associated with the a16z logo. Earlier this year, Coinbase teased the impending announcement of its Optimism-backed layer 2 network – called Base – by first tweeting out a blue circle.
The similarity of the images led to trader speculation that a16z may have plans to launch its own layer 2 blockchain, sending the OP token about 3% higher.
But Eddy Lazzarin, the chief technology officer of a16z crypto, subsequently tweeted “not an L2,” apparently denying that possibility.
🟠🪄 ✨
— Eddy Lazzarin 🟠🔭 (@eddylazzarin) April 18, 2023
(not an L2)
A16z and Paradigm co-led a $150 million funding round for Optimism in March 2022, which valued the Ethereum scaling solution at $1.65 billion.
A16z declined to comment on the speculation when contacted by CoinDesk.
Read more: A16z Highlights Web3 Strength in Its Second ‘State of Crypto’ Report
Update (April 18, 2023, 21:23 UTC): Adds tweet from a16z CTO saying it's "not an L2."
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
French Banking Giant BPCE to Roll Out Crypto Trading for 2M Retail Clients
The service will allow customers to buy and sell BTC, ETH, SOL, and USDC through a separate digital asset account managed by Hexarq.
What to know:
- French banking group BPCE will start offering crypto trading services to 2 million retail customers through its Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Épargne apps, with plans to expand to 12 million customers by 2026.
- The service will allow customers to buy and sell BTC, ETH, SOL, and USDC through a separate digital asset account managed by Hexarq, with a €2.99 monthly fee and 1.5% transaction commission.
- The move follows similar initiatives by other European banks, such as BBVA, Santander, and Raiffeisen Bank, which have already started offering crypto trading services to their customers.
Top Stories
