This post is cowritten by Protocol Guild members Trent, @PeterVecchiarelli, + @cheeky-gorilla. See this tweet from the official PG twitter account for social proof.
Hello Linea Community! We’d be honored if you would consider funding the work of Ethereum mainnet contributors with 1% of the upcoming LINEA token. This would vest over 4 years through the Protocol Guild onchain mechanism.
This contribution would follow the dependency funding norms that other projects have taken through the 1% Pledge. This includes Eigenlayer, Aligned Layer, EtherFi, Taiko, Puffer, EthStorage, and PWN DAO! (+ more announcing soon)
For more details about the PG mechanism and reasons to contribute 1%, please read on below.
Protocol Guild Overview
Protocol Guild is a funding mechanism for Ethereum’s L1 R&D maintainers, which today includes 187 individuals (see list in the documentation). It was started in 2021 and has consistently updated its membership at least once per quarter. Members include contributors from:
- Client implementations: Erigon, EthereumJS, Geth, Besu, Lighthouse, Lodestar, Nethermind, Nimbus, Portal, Prysm, Reth, Grandine, Teku,
- Research groups: Applied Research Group, Consensys DDS, Consensus R&D, Ipsilon, Robust Incentives Group, Stateless Consensus and TXRX
- Coordination and support groups: EELS, EthPandaOps, EthereumJS, Protocol Support, EF Protocol Security, EF Testing, and Ethereum Cat Herders
Protocol Guild’s onchain mechanism includes an immutable vesting contract and split contract. This ensures that funding goes directly and transparently to these individuals and their Ethereum stewardship over the long term. All funding can be tracked through our public Dune dashboard.
What is Linea’s Relationship with Ethereum Core Protocol Development?
As an Ethereum Layer 2, Linea has a symbiotic relationship with the mainnet Layer 1:
- Infrastructure relationships link the scalability, censorship resistance, security, and settlement of Linea with Ethereum Mainnet. In a worst case scenario, users on Linea can exit their assets to mainnet.
- Linea reuses client software which powers the L1 distributed system, which is largely maintained by the ongoing collaborative research and development of Protocol Guild members.
Linea benefits from the stewardship of this software and the continued scalability improvements of Ethereum mainnet to decrease Linea end user fees. Past work like EIP-4844 (live since March 2024) has saved rollups $300mm in costs (relative to calldata, as of Dec 9 2024). This translates to reduced fees for existing users and new app models. The upcoming Pectra network upgrade will add other improvements like an increased blob target, more efficient blob markets, better networking, and security improvements.
Why Do These Individuals Need Funding?
Protocol Guild’s aim is to ensure that the all-star talent building Ethereum has sufficient long-term financial support. Core contributors have very high levels of context around L1 software, which also means they have a great deal of career optionality outside of core development.
Protocol Guild serves as an alternate source of funding which improves the financial incentives available to L1 contributors. In order to ship our ambitious roadmap (Surge, Scourge, Verge, Purge and Splurge), Ethereum must retain its talented individuals and attract new ones. A deep and consistent funding pool is better able to support a stable set of contributors.
What is the Protocol Guild Pledge?
The Protocol Guild Pledge was established in January 2024 to build norms around donating 1% of the native token supply of any project with a dependency on L1 Ethereum.
By donating tokens, core contributors end up with a basket of funds providing diversified exposure to the value being created in the ecosystem. The ecosystem is able to build new things because of the foundation provided by the core protocol. With enough participation, the Protocol Guild Pledge can create a sustainable and robust funding stream for Ethereum’s core protocol development, backed by the projects built on Ethereum.
We believe 1% is a simple and fair target for both large and small projects, as opposed to setting pledge levels in dollar terms. However, if this doesn’t fit the Linea project context, we are also happy to receive any amount to support this ongoing work!
Conclusion
Protocol Guild’s design as a funding collective for individual Ethereum maintainers ensures that the network’s ongoing evolution is sufficiently supported. By funding this work, the Linea community can take a leadership position in ensuring that Ethereum remains robust and capable of supporting innovations like Linea.
Thank you for your consideration 
Looking forward to questions!
Heya, I’m Sam from the EthPandaOps team, which is part of the guild. Protocol Guild has been a game changer for building a sustainable and thriving Layer 1 ecosystem. It’s a simple yet impactful way to support those working on the base layer, helping us to stay focused and to keep innovating.