Linea is an Ethereum Layer-2 network built by ConsenSys, the team behind MetaMask. It runs transactions off to the side, packs a whole batch into one zero-knowledge proof, and posts that proof to Ethereum, so you get cheaper and faster transactions that still lean on Ethereum's security.

Do I pay gas fees in LINEA?

No. On Linea you still pay gas in ETH, the same as on Ethereum. The LINEA token is an ecosystem reward and funding token, not the fuel. A slice of the ETH fees is even used to buy back and burn LINEA over time.

How many LINEA tokens exist?

The total is fixed at about 72 billion LINEA (72,009,990,000), exactly 1,000 times Ethereum's original genesis supply. There was no allocation to investors or the team, 85% goes to the ecosystem and 15% to a ConsenSys treasury locked for 5 years.

Is Linea its own blockchain or a fork?

Neither. Linea is not a separate Layer-1 and not a fork of another coin. It is a Layer-2 that sits on top of Ethereum and settles back to it, so think of it as a fast lane built over Ethereum rather than a rival road.

No.186

📒 Codex · Ethereum L2 · zkEVM rollup

Linea LINEA

Ethereum's zkEVM courier

🎭 a ConsenSys-built scaling lane: it bundles a crowd of transactions, seals them in one zk proof, and burns a little of itself with every trip

🔗 L2📜 Smart Contract🌉 Bridge🌱 PoS

ALTROOKIE CODEX

💬 “Hand me your transactions and I'll wait until I have a whole crowd of them. Then I fold them into one tiny proof, run it back to Ethereum, and burn a little of myself on the way to stay light. You only paid pennies, and Ethereum still vouches for every step.”

💬 TL;DR

What: an Ethereum Layer-2 zkEVM rollup, the fast, cheap lane built on top of Ethereum.
Who: built by ConsenSys, the company behind MetaMask and Infura. Mainnet alpha opened July 11, 2023.
The trick: bundle many txs, prove them with a single zero-knowledge proof, post that proof to Ethereum for L1-grade security.
Token: you pay gas in ETH, not LINEA. Supply is fixed near 72 billion, and usage burns both ETH and LINEA.

📖 The Story

July 11, 2023. ConsenSys, the studio behind MetaMask and Infura, opened the mainnet alpha of a network called Linea. Ethereum at the time had a familiar ache: when the road got busy, fees climbed and everyone waited. Linea's pitch was a side lane that did the heavy lifting elsewhere, then reported back to Ethereum with proof.

The clever part is the proof. Instead of asking Ethereum to re-check every transaction, Linea gathers a whole crowd of them off to the side, then folds the batch into a single zero-knowledge stamp. That stamp is tiny, but it convinces Ethereum the entire batch was honest. Ethereum checks one small thing instead of thousands, and the savings land in your fee.

Because Linea is a Type 2 zkEVM, it copies Ethereum closely enough that existing Solidity smart contracts deploy onto it unchanged. For a builder, moving over feels less like emigrating and more like opening a second branch in the same language.

September 10, 2025. The LINEA token finally arrived, with a community airdrop reaching roughly 749,000 wallets. No slice was carved out for venture investors or the team, a deliberate choice that became part of Linea's identity.

📊 Stats

🛡️Security Settles to Ethereum L1

🪶Low fees Cheap vs Ethereum mainnet

🧩EVM fit Type 2: contracts deploy as-is

🌐Decentralization Sequencer still centralized

🔥Token utility Not gas, not governance

🧩 How it works

Three workers run the lane. A sequencer lines transactions up in order. A prover takes that batch and grinds it into one zero-knowledge validity proof. A bridge relayer shuttles assets between Ethereum (L1) and Linea (L2). The proof, plus the data, gets posted to Ethereum, which verifies it and stamps the whole batch as final.

On the upper L2 layer 👥 a crowd of txs is ordered and 🧾 sealed into one zk proof, which is sent down ⬇ to Ethereum Ξ to be verified and settled.

One twist worth knowing: you pay gas in ETH here, not LINEA. From the network's net fees, 20% is burned as ETH and 80% buys back and burns LINEA, so both grow scarcer the more the lane is used.

🌗 Light & Shadow

🌕 Light

Inherits Ethereum's security. The proof is checked by Ethereum itself, so you are not trusting a brand-new chain on its own
Type 2 zkEVM means existing Ethereum contracts deploy with no rewrites, easy for builders to move over
A rare clean token deal: no VC or team allocation, 85% to the ecosystem, and usage burns supply (both ETH and LINEA)

🌑 Shadow

The sequencer is still run by ConsenSys. A single operator can censor or stall txs, and full decentralization is a roadmap promise, not today's reality
The LINEA token doesn't pay gas or vote on governance, so its day-to-day usefulness is thin compared with the network's traffic
It competes in a crowded field of zk and optimistic rollups (zkSync, Scroll, Polygon zkEVM, Arbitrum, Optimism), and standing out is hard

🧬 Evolution lineage

Linea is not a fork and not its own Layer-1. It is a Layer-2 child of Ethereum, settling its proofs back to Ethereum's proof-of-stake L1. Its peers are the other Ethereum zk-rollups (zkSync, Scroll, Polygon zkEVM), with Arbitrum and Optimism as broader L2 cousins. Pedigree: built by ConsenSys, founded by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, and born from Ethereum's rollup-centric scaling roadmap.

Ξ Ethereum 📩 Linea

🧭 Meet other friends

🔵 Arbitrum 🔴 Optimism 🥞 Starknet Ξ Ethereum

See the whole codex →

❓ FAQ

What is Linea?: Linea is an Ethereum Layer-2 network built by ConsenSys, the team behind MetaMask. It runs transactions off to the side, packs a whole batch into one zero-knowledge proof, and posts that proof to Ethereum, so you get cheaper and faster transactions that still lean on Ethereum's security.
Do I pay gas fees in LINEA?: No. On Linea you still pay gas in ETH, the same as on Ethereum. The LINEA token is an ecosystem reward and funding token, not the fuel. A slice of the ETH fees is even used to buy back and burn LINEA over time.
How many LINEA tokens exist?: The total is fixed at about 72 billion LINEA (72,009,990,000), exactly 1,000 times Ethereum's original genesis supply. There was no allocation to investors or the team, 85% goes to the ecosystem and 15% to a ConsenSys treasury locked for 5 years.
Is Linea its own blockchain or a fork?: Neither. Linea is not a separate Layer-1 and not a fork of another coin. It is a Layer-2 that sits on top of Ethereum and settles back to it, so think of it as a fast lane built over Ethereum rather than a rival road.

⚠️ Not investment advice. All figures are for information only