Consensys Forms Swiss Non-Profit for Linea Decentralization

Consensys, the developer of Metamask, has introduced the Linea Association, a non-profit organization headquartered in Switzerland that is committed to the promotion of decentralization for its Layer-2 zkEVM Linea

On November 13, the Linea Association was established at the Devcon event in Bangkok, Thailand, by Linea, a Layer-2 zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine rollup developed by Consensys.

The Linea Association is an independent Swiss non-profit organization that is committed to the advancement of Linea’s open-source decentralized technology and ecosystem governance, as stated in Linea’s blog post.

Tokenholder governance is one of the primary features that the Linea Association is promoting. Therefore, the organization intends to roll out the native token, LINEA, by the conclusion of the first quarter of 2025. Holders will utilize the LINEA token to participate in governance.

The blog post suggests that a token generation event will be held to introduce LINEA tokens to ecosystem contributors, although no specific roadmap has been provided.

The Linea Association will furnish additional information regarding the token’s design, economics, and utility. However, they have suggested that LINEA may serve as more than a governance token in the future.

The Swiss Association will grant token holders the opportunity to make decisions regarding specific aspects of the organization, such as Linea’s intellectual property and a treasury to support its mission.

The organization will be comprised of a token governance body, a general assembly employees operating under an executive director, and a board of directors.

Nicolas Liochan, the founder of Linea and a member of the Linea Association’s Board, emphasized that decentralization is the basis of Linea’s vision. Consequently, he is of the opinion that Linea should be publicly owned and governed by a community, rather than a centralized base.

“The Linea Association’s establishment guarantees that the protocol’s future is in the hands of its community, enabling users and developers to collaboratively and transparently influence its trajectory,” stated Liochon.

He clarified that the organization’s fundamental objective is to “enable the global community to reside on-chain,” a goal that will be bolstered by an ecosystem of Ethereum technologists, developers, and users.

Consensys’ CEO Joseph Lubin underscored that the establishment of Linea’s independent NGO is consistent with Consensys’ vision of establishing a Network State that is powered by a decentralized global economy.

Lubin stated, “We are establishing the groundwork for a world that is open, collaborative, and censorship-resistant, in which individuals and communities worldwide can participate fully and securely, through initiatives such as Linea.”

Linea has become the fastest-growing zkEVM on Ethereum since its inception in August 2023, hosting over 230 million transactions in less than 15 months.

Linea is presently in the initial phase of its decentralization roadmap, which spans five phases, from Phase 0 to Phase 4.