A group of developers within the Ethereum ecosystem, operating independently of the Ethereum Foundation, have announced Ethereum R1 — a layer-2 (L2) scaling solution for the Ethereum network that does not include a native token.
According to the announcement, the project relies entirely on donations, does not have venture funding, and does not have any pre-mined token allocations or a governance token. The project's team wrote in a May 1 X post:
"We are a small group of developers who came together to build Ethereum R1 out of a love for the Ethereum ecosystem and a desire to see it thrive. We are not affiliated with any venture funds or institutions. We fund the project through personal donations and contributions from members of the community who believe in the project's vision."
The developers went on to explain that they chose not to create a token for the project because they believe it aligns better with the values of the Ethereum community.
"Most L2s today are acting more like new L1s than an Ethereum scaling solution — private allocations, opaque governance, and centralized control. We wanted to create an L2 that was open, decentralized, and truly belonged to the Ethereum community," the post read.
The announcement points to increasing concerns within the Ethereum community regarding the current direction of many layer-2 scaling solutions, which some view as potentially misaligned with the interests of the base layer.
"The project is funded entirely through personal contributions and donations from members of the community who believe in the project's vision to create a truly open-source and community-owned L2 for Ethereum," the developers added.
The project's website provides a detailed technical overview of Ethereum R1, explaining its architecture, security model, and programming language.
The project is currently in the early stages of development, but the team plans to release a public testnet later this year. The project's GitHub repository is open to any developers interested in contributing to the project.
