Consensys establishes a Swiss non-profit to support Linea decentralization

Consensys, the developer of Metamask, announced the Linea Association, a Switzerland-based non-profit organization dedicated to advancing decentralized management for its Layer-2 zkEVM Linea.

Linea, the Layer-2 zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine aggregation developed by Consensys, launched the Linea Association on November 13 at the Devcon event in Bangkok, Thailand.

According to Linea’s blog post, the Linea Association is described as an independent Swiss non-profit organization dedicated to advancing Linea’s open source decentralized technology and ecosystem management.

One of the key features pioneered by Linea Association is token holder management. Therefore, the organization plans to launch its native token LINEA by the end of the first quarter of 2025. LINEA token will be used by its holders to take part in management.

While no specific roadmap was given, the blog post states that there will be a token creation event to launch LINEA tokens for those contributing to the ecosystem. The Linea Association will provide more details on the token’s design, economics, and usefulness, but has hinted that LINEA could function as more than a governance token over time.

The Swiss Association will give token holders the ability to decide on certain aspects within the organization, including Linea’s intellectual property and a treasury that will support its mission.

The organization will consist of a board of directors, a general assembly staff working under an executive director, and a token governing body.

Nicolas Liochan, Linea’s founder and Linea Association Board member, stated that decentralization lies at the core of Linea’s vision. That’s why he believes Linea should be owned and openly managed by a community rather than a central base.

“The establishment of the Linea Association ensures that the future of the protocol is in the hands of the community, empowering users and developers to shape the course of the protocol collaboratively and transparently,” Liochon said.

He explained that the organization’s core mission is to “empower the world to live on-chain,” which will be supported by an ecosystem of Ethereum (ETH) technologists, builders, and users.

Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin emphasized that the formation of Linea’s independent NGO is aligned with Consensys’ vision of creating a Network State powered by a decentralized global economy.

“Through initiatives like Linea, we are laying the foundation for an open, collaborative, and censorship-resistant world in which individuals and communities around the world can fully and securely participate,” Lubin said.

Since its launch in August 2023, Linea has become the fastest-growing zkEVM on Ethereum, hosting over 230 million transactions in less than 15 months. Linea is currently in the first phase of its decentralization roadmap, which consists of five phases from Phase 0 to Phase 4.