Eigen Foundation commits 1% of EIGEN supply to Ethereum development

Eigen Foundation has announced that it will commit 1% of all EIGEN token supply to Protocol Guild, an on-chain fund for maintaining the Ethereum Layer-1 network. The foundation which supports the restaking platform, Eigen Layer, announced this on X, noting that it is committed to Ethereum security.

According to the Foundation, pledging 1% of its supply to the fund will enable the Protocol Guild to continue its work on Ethereum infrastructure development and ensure it stays decentralized. Given that the EIGEN token has a total supply of 1.68 billion, with 210.81 million currently in circulation, the pledge would see Protocol Guild get around 16.8 million EIGEN tokens over time. Based on the current value of the token,  that would be worth $82.6 million.

Eigen Foundation said:

“By pledging 1% of EIGEN supply, we aim to ensure that the Protocol Guild can continue its mission to provide consistent funding for Ethereum maintainers, supporting their stewardship of the network.”

Protocol Guild is an on-chain fund for the core maintainers of Ethereum L1 infrastructure. Its focus is on research and development to sustain the network and the group members work on several core developments within the Ethereum ecosystem, such as Beam Chain, zk-proofs, decentralized storage, and zk-proofs.

Protocol Guild donations are to surpass $100 million

Meanwhile, the pledge from Eigen Layer now means over a dozen projects have taken the Protocol Guild pledge to donate at least 1% of their token supply to the fund.

According to data from Dune analytics regarding the restaking protocol, EtherFi was the first to commit 1% of its supply. Since then, several others have made similar moves, but the data has not yet been updated to include the Eigen Foundation commitment.

Other major pledges include Taiko Labs, PWN DAO, Puffer, and EthStorage. More recently, Otto DAO, the community behind the on-chain lottery protocol LottoPGF, also committed 1% of its treasury to the Guild, while Alinged Foundation allocated 1.5% of the Aligned Layer token supply.

However, other Ethereum-based projects and individuals have opted for direct donations, including popular L2 networks such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and Zksync.

Overall, Protocol Guild has received over 8,282 donations from almost 832 donors, who donated $92.9 million as of December 9, with Ether.Fi being the biggest donor, followed by TAIKO.

The donated funds are being spent supporting various developers working on core Ethereum projects. Developers receive distributions based on their contributions to the Ethereum network. So far, the Guild has 187 members.

Over the last two years, the project has distributed $38 million to developers, with each recipient receiving a median amount of $51,617 in the last 12 months. The Guild also plans to distribute a median amount of $79,342 to the developers in the next 12 months. The project currently has about $54 million, subject to a four-year vesting period.

Ethereum developer activity in decline

Meanwhile, the increase in financial commitment to Protocol Guild could not have come at a better time for the Ethereum network. Solana recently overtook Ethereum as the top ecosystem for developers for the first time since 2016.

According to a report from Electric Capital, Solana attracted 7,625 new developers in 2024, compared to Ethereum’s 6,456. The increase in Solana developers is mostly due to growth in Asia, but it highlights how the network is attracting new builders.

Nevertheless, Ethereum remains a major draw for most developers as it continues to have the highest developer activity of all blockchain networks, with 6,244 in 2024. However, monthly Ethereum developers fell by 17% compared to last year. Amidst all these, Eigen Layer emerged as the fastest-growing developer ecosystem. The protocol reported a 167% increase in monthly overall developers.

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