A group of independent developers within the Ethereum ecosystem have launched Ethereum R1, a new layer-2 (L2) rollup solution, claiming to be “100% donation-funded” and designed to scale Ethereum while staying true to its core principles of decentralization, credible neutrality, and censorship resistance.
Unlike many existing L2 solutions, Ethereum R1 stands out with its bold rejection of tokens, private sales, and centralized governance, positioning itself as a “neutral rollup” built for the Ethereum community.
Announced via a detailed thread on X, Ethereum R1 does not have any token presale or venture capital involvement. The rollup is built using the Surge stack from NethermindEth and code from Taiko, with a 1% base fee allocated to the Taiko DAO until 2030.
It is currently open for donations that will sustain the initiative until 2030, after which all fees will be burned, ensuring long-term alignment with Ethereum’s ethos as a public good.
The project enters Stage 2 from day one, enabling permissionless proving, long upgrade delays, and a broad community multisig for decentralized governance, as revealed on the official website.
The launch addresses growing concerns about existing L2s, which the Ethereum R1 team argues often behave more like new layer-1 blockchains, with private allocations, opaque governance, and centralized control.
“General-purpose L2s should be commodities—simple, replaceable, and free from centralized dependencies or risky governance,” the team stated on X, adding “Ethereum R1 is our answer to that call.”
The project is designed to be replaceable from fundamentals, meaning that it can evolve or be succeeded without harming the Ethereum ecosystem. Another cornerstone of Ethereum R1 is community involvement, with it being open for contributors to join discussions on Telegram and the Magician Forum, and to access resources on GitHub and the official website.
Since its announcement on May 1, Ethereum R1 has already garnered significant attention from notable Ethereum personalities like Justin Drake and Vitalik Buterin. It is currently spearheaded by contributors like Jiajun, Ahmad, Kassandra, and Jünger.
As Ethereum continues to scale, Ethereum R1’s launch marks a pivotal moment in the debate over L2 development. It advocates for a future where rollups serve as public infrastructure rather than profit-driven enterprises. Moreover, the project’s commitment to transparency and community control could set a new standard for Ethereum’s scaling solutions.
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