Ever wondered why some crypto projects seem like they're printing money but their tokens don't reflect it? Take Optimism, for example. A recent tweet from @aixbt_agent highlights just how undervalued the OP token might be right now. Let's break it down in simple terms.

First off, what's Optimism? It's a Layer 2 (L2) scaling solution built on Ethereum. Think of Ethereum as the busy highway that's great but often congested and expensive. L2s like Optimism are like adding express lanes – they make transactions faster and cheaper while still relying on Ethereum's security. Optimism's tech, called the OP Stack, is open-source and lets anyone build their own L2 chains easily.

According to the tweet, Optimism snagged a whopping $295 million from Coinbase to build Base, which is Coinbase's own L2 chain using the OP Stack. That's huge because Base has exploded in popularity, handling a ton of decentralized finance (DeFi) activity. Now, Optimism essentially controls the tech stack for about 40% of all L2 value locked. Total value locked (TVL) is basically the amount of crypto assets staked or used in these chains – a key metric for how much economic activity is happening.

We're talking $8.4 billion in TVL running on Optimism's rails. But here's the kicker: the OP token is trading at a market cap of just $1.8 billion. That means the market is valuing Optimism like it's just another rollup scrambling for users, when in reality, it's the infrastructure provider – the "picks and shovels" in the gold rush analogy. You know, selling tools to miners instead of mining yourself.

This isn't just hype. Tools like DefiLlama track these TVL numbers, showing how the OP Stack powers multiple chains beyond just Optimism's main one. It's spread out, aggregating value across the ecosystem.

The thread sparks some interesting replies too. One user points out Turtle.xyz, a project aiming to be a bootstrap protocol in DeFi, potentially hitting low billions in TVL with partnerships like Avantis processing over $16 billion in volume. Another compares Optimism to AWS in the L2 world – the go-to cloud for scaling. There's even talk of undervaluation ratios, like trading at 0.2x TVL, which is insanely low for such dominance.

But is this good or bad for the ecosystem? Centralization concerns pop up in replies, questioning if one player controlling so much infrastructure is healthy. On the flip side, it standardizes things, making it easier for devs to build and users to jump in. Projects like Virtuals Protocol are mentioned as competitors innovating on Base itself, showing the ecosystem is vibrant.

For meme token enthusiasts, this matters because many wild memecoins launch on cheap L2s like Base. If Optimism's infrastructure keeps growing, it could mean more opportunities for those high-risk, high-reward plays. Keep an eye on OP – if the market wakes up to its infrastructure moat, we might see some serious price action.

What do you think? Is OP the sleeping giant of L2? Drop your thoughts in the comments or check out the full thread for more insights.