Protocol Guild

Protocol Guild is a collective funding mechanism for the maintainers of Ethereum's layer 1 research and development, made up of an eligibility framework, a member registry and on-chain donation contracts. Members come from the Geth, Nethermind, Besu, Lighthouse, Prysm, Reth, Nimbus and Teku client teams as well as research, testing and coordination roles, and the registry currently lists 187 people.

Weights follow project affiliation and time contributed, the registry and weights are published to a split contract, and donations vest linearly over four years and are claimed by weight. The practice of committing 1% of a token's supply is known as the 1% Pledge, and the Aztec Foundation joined it in May 2026, taking cumulative distributions past USD 38 million. That same month governance moved to Agora Governor, handing control of the split contract from a multisig to the DAO. Membership is reviewed quarterly, weight phases out after a member leaves a core maintenance role, and newcomers need nomination by existing members.