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Tokenomics

The LINEA token is designed to grow and support Ethereum and Linea, and has several radical features that set it apart from most layer 2 tokens:

  • ETH is the gas token
  • LINEA does not come with any governance rights
  • There is no token allocation for insiders, investors, or team members.

Instead, LINEA will help to organically grow the chain by being distributed to users as a reward for using apps and protocols on Linea.

The token's contract address on Linea Mainnet and Ethereum Mainnet is 0x1789e0043623282D5DCc7F213d703C6D8BAfBB04.

Need help?

This page explains the rationale behind token distribution. If you're looking for help with claiming your airdrop, using the token, or any other common issues, see the Linea support page.

Allocation​

LINEA will have a total supply of 72,009,990,000. This 1,000x the genesis supply of ETH on Ethereum.

85% of the supply of LINEA will be be invested in the community and ecosystem, comprising the Ecosystem Fund, with 15% held long-term by Consensys.

Pie chart showing the token allocation

The supply will be allocated according to the below table:

Category% of supplyDetails
Ecosystem85%75% for a long-term Ecosystem Fund, and 10% for early contributors.
Consensys treasury15%Locked (non-transferrable) for five years. Consensys will hold the tokens long-term for alignment and to support Linea and its ecosystem.

Except from the initial allocation to Consensys, which is locked for five years, there is no allocation to private investors, insiders, or employees and team members. Instead, value is funneled straight into the ecosystem, the builders bringing it to fruition, and the community members engaging with it.

At the time of the token generation event (TGE), 22% of the LINEA supply will be in circulation, split between a user and builder airdrop, ecosystem activations, and liquidity provisioning.

All other allocations will be locked at TGE, or vesting according to various schedules.

Ecosystem (85%)​

Early contributors (10%)​

The initial airdrop for early contributors, comprising 10% of the supply, will include:

  • 9% to early contributors
  • 1% to strategic builders

The early contributor airdrop for users will be based on onchain activity over the long term, including LXP. An eligibility checker will be available before TGE. The 1% allocation for builders will be distributed through a curated, targeted process for maximum impact.

All tokens distributed through the above airdrops are fully unlocked.

Ecosystem Fund (75%)​

The long-term section of the Ecosystem Fund will be managed by the Linea Consortium.

This 75% will unlock over 10 years, with unlocks weighted towards the earlier years to encourage early activation and adoption. Unlocks occur early — 10% per year in the early years, tapering to 2% by the tenth year.

These funds will be used for:

  • Funding for Ethereum R&D
  • Maintaining shared ecosystem infrastructure such as audits, developer tools, and node infrastructure
  • Funding public goods, such as open-source software, research, and community programs
  • Strategic co-development with aligned organizations or emerging protocols.

Consensys treasury (15%)​

15% of the total token supply will be incorporated into the Consensys treasury. This allocation will be locked for five years and is non-transferrable until a vesting schedule is complete.

Burning mechanism​

After covering infrastructure costs, 100% of surplus revenue gets burned:

  • 20% burned as ETH
  • 80% converted to LINEA and burned

How burning works on Linea​

Linea and the LINEA token are designed specifically to reinforce the strength of Ethereum and ETH, achieved through an automatic, dual-burn mechanism:

  • All gas fees on Linea are paid in ETH
  • 20% of net ETH profits (Linea revenue minus operating costs and subsidies) will be burned, reducing ETH supply
  • 80% of net ETH profits are used to burn LINEA, reducing LINEA supply.

As a result, network activity on Linea directly supports both the value of ETH and LINEA.

Every transaction on Linea generates gas fees paid in ETH. Instead of keeping these fees, Linea's burn mechanism permanently removes ETH and LINEA tokens from circulation. This creates deflationary pressure on both tokens, directly benefiting holders and the broader ecosystem.

This means Linea becomes a perpetual buyer of its own token while simultaneously reducing ETH supply.

Step 1: Revenue collection​

All gas fees from transactions on Linea are paid in ETH and automatically collected into a revenue vault contract. This happens continuously as users interact with the network—every swap, transfer, NFT mint, or smart contract interaction contributes to this pool.

Step 2: Covering infrastructure costs​

Running a high-performance layer 2 network has real costs:

  • Onchain costs: Submitting transaction data to Ethereum L1, finalizing proofs, bridge transactions (anchoring and claiming)
  • Offchain costs: Running the mainnet infrastructure (servers, databases, monitoring systems)

Once calculated, an invoice is submitted to the revenue vault. The vault automatically pays what it can from available funds. If there's not enough balance, it tracks the outstanding amount (called "arrears") and pays it off when more revenue comes in.

Infrastructure costs are always paid first. Burns only happen when there's surplus revenue.

Step 3: The burn operation​

Once costs are covered and there's surplus revenue available, the burn operation is triggered by a service operated by the Linea Consortium on a regular basis:

ETH Burn (20%)​

The vault takes 20% of the available surplus and sends it directly to the zero address (0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000). This ETH is permanently removed from circulation; it can never be recovered or used again.

LINEA Burn (80%)​

The remaining 80% goes through a more complex process:

  1. Swap: The ETH is swapped for LINEA tokens using a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Linea. This creates buying pressure on LINEA and happens at the current market rate with slippage protection to prevent unfavorable trades.
  2. Bridge: The LINEA tokens are then bridged from Linea (L2) to Ethereum (L1) using Linea's native token bridge. They're sent to a special burner contract on L1.
  3. Burn: On Ethereum L1, the LINEA tokens are permanently burned. This is important because LINEA's total supply is tracked on L1, so burning must happen there to properly reduce the circulating supply.

The bridging and burning on L1 is designed to be permissionless: anyone can trigger the final burn step, ensuring the process can't be blocked or censored.

Step 4: Transparency​

Every step of this process is recorded onchain:

  • Invoice submissions with exact cost amounts and time periods
  • Burn operations with precise amounts of ETH and LINEA destroyed
  • Bridge transactions showing LINEA moving from L2 to L1
  • Final burn transactions on Ethereum L1

You can verify everything yourself by checking the blockchain. The live dashboard makes it easy to track:

  • Total gas fees collected
  • Total ETH burned since September 11, 2024
  • Total LINEA burned since September 11, 2024
  • Daily burn amounts for both tokens
  • Historical trends and charts

Smart contract addresses​