# Fueling Ethereum's Engine: The Protocol Guild By [admiral](https://paragraph.com/@0xhoss) · 2023-09-21 --- “In Oct 2021, there was a [conversation](https://twitter.com/dannyryan/status/1454065104819916803?s=20&t=UpzCC7pDSqldgV-TAIMFiA) about how to best fund core contributors. That inspiration was combined with the experience of earlier experiments like [Open Grants](https://opengrants.com/explore), the [Beacon Book](https://stateful.mirror.xyz/Y1ED9RorG9OvEUXD8NBmXgYhSVhjj8H537-I2SZJkYA), and the [1559 NFT Series](https://stateful.mirror.xyz/rsUhYxXARr7j2iDjqJeelY7nc6CN_Y-MilVDP1S5voA). The result: an on-chain mechanism maintained by its beneficiaries which produces long term, equitably shared funding.” **_About Protocol Guild:_** Protocol Guild is a membership organization of ETH core contributors that maintains an on-chain registry. In simple terms, it's a contract that records individuals with associated ETH addresses and their corresponding weights; this implies that the longer a member’s contribution period, the higher their share. Ethereum's ecosystem and community can use this registry to easily and effectively fund core protocol work, as the registry is tied to a single Ethereum address, which vests all donated funds to members in the registry over time. As of the latest update on Aug 8, 2023, the Guild boasts 152 active contributors. **Exploring Protocol Guild V2 and Evolving Smart Contract Architecture:** “Protocol Guild V2 aims to help us scale to $100mm in funding. We have been working on V2 since the start of the year, with the aim of replacing multisig dependencies, automating membership registry updates, and expanding the mechanism to L2s. To achieve this, we will modularize our smart contract architecture as follows; 1. The first module will handle all finances, managed via Vesting and Split contracts created by the talented 0xSplits team. We have been using their smart contracts since the start of the pilot to trustlessly receive and vest all donations. We will continue using these contracts for V2. 2. The second module, which is new in V2, will be a Moloch V3 DAO (shout out to the DAOHaus crew for helping with this) which will be used for governing the on-chain membership registry. The DAO will work like you’d expect it to: it will include all Guild members, one person one vote, including vote delegation. DAO members will be able to create proposals to update the membership registry, after which there will be a voting period. Once passed and executed, it’ll update the on-chain membership registry. 3. The third module is the on-chain membership registry itself, which will live separately from the DAO and the 0xSplits contracts. This is important, because the on-chain membership registry will actually be a smart contract that can calculate member weights (i.e. their allocation of distributed funds), and then feed itself into the 0xSplits contracts to update the distribution list. 4. The last component will involve using Connext for L2 state bridging, which will allow us to deploy 0xSplits contracts on all supported L2s, and control those contracts with our mainnet DAO. Briefly, we will deploy replica membership registries on all L2s, which update whenever the mainnet membership registry is updated, which can then be used to update the L2 distribution lists in the 0xSplits contracts. ” To conclude Protocol Guild V2 aims to achieve: 1- Remove trusted elements 2- Continue building social norms 3- Raise 100M $ to vest over 4 years **Unveiling Protocol Guild: Team Members, Membership Criteria, and Registry Updates** The full set of members list can be seen [here](https://protocol-guild.readthedocs.io/en/latest/9-membership.html) in the docs. “Eligible individuals must be contributing to one of the [projects listed here](https://protocol-guild.readthedocs.io/en/latest/4-roles-expectations.html#qualifications), a framework which includes: * Ethereum L1 core protocol maintenance and development * Research and implementation experiments related to potential protocol changes/refinements * Spec work resulting from the above (should be implementation agnostic, unopinionated) To add a new project, members would make a PR to the docs with the rationale as to why this new project fits within the framework. To propose new members to the registry, existing members make a nomination PR which includes information like their name, project, start date, and references to their work. Each quarter, the active membership and weights is brought on-chain to this [0xSplits contract](https://app.0xsplits.xyz/accounts/0xF29Ff96aaEa6C9A1fBa851f74737f3c069d4f1a9/).” **Why is it crucial for the ETH ecosystem and community to support Ethereum’s core protocol contributors, via the Protocol Guild?** As you've followed along, it becomes evident that Protocol Guild is a magic list of ETH core protocol contributors. A magic list that plays a crucial role in Ethereum. It's not only about the present, but also about the direction we, as the Ethereum community, are heading. You're a part of this journey too! so I believe it's imperative that we proactively engage in supporting Protocol Guild and its esteemed members, the ETH core contributors, in their pursuit of sustaining long-term incentives.This symbiotic relationship is undeniably a win-win scenario. By ensuring the continued stewardship of the core protocol, we are not only fortifying the foundation of Ethereum but also equipping the broader ecosystem with the necessary infrastructure and tools to achieve global accessibility and scalability. `“We are hoping to build the social norm that all projects built on Ethereum donate 1% of their tokens in support of Ethereum’s core protocol contributors, via the Protocol Guild. Establishing this norm is the one way that we can ensure sustainable long-term funding for the protocol, as opposed to fundraising via one-off governance proposals and grants. ”` **Protocol Guild's RetroPGF2 Success:** **557.3K OP Received and applying for RetroPGF3:** ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/2f99076f343a3192591a68466891c57592271aef44c86d057b6d3ea667ad226d.png) Protocol Guild's application for RetroPGF2 resulted in the reception of an impressive 557,300 OP tokens. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d6ddc32dc70780144037e36c93896c268b7b948616f2f2d31132688da4bbe929.png) This is Protocol Guild's application ([here](https://app.optimism.io/retropgf-discovery/0x4C0a466DF0628FE8699051b3Ac6506653191cc21)) for RetroPGF2 resulted in the reception of an impressive 557,300 OP tokens, which is not surprising. Additionally, they express their intention to apply for RetroPGF3. “Given the number of members and the ambitious scope of our mission to rebalance financial incentives towards Ethereum’s core protocol work, Protocol Guild requires continuous funding to achieve its goal! So yes, we will absolutely apply to take part in RetroPGF3.” Finally, I'd like to express my gratitude towards the Protocol Guild team members for their swift and insightful contributions to this Q&A session, all within the span of a single day. Your commitment to transparency and accessibility truly embodies the spirit of the Ethereum community. **_Link to the full Q&A interview:_** [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1\_XPTVD-GtNYtxwfjITlfSf0jA6Z8mucjangQRUDJMDA/edit?usp=drivesdk](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_XPTVD-GtNYtxwfjITlfSf0jA6Z8mucjangQRUDJMDA/edit?usp=drivesdk) **Protocol Guild** **links** [https://protocol-guild.readthedocs.io/en/latest/](https://protocol-guild.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) [https://twitter.com/ProtocolGuild](https://twitter.com/ProtocolGuild) [https://discord.gg/XKjFANX9](https://discord.gg/XKjFANX9) [https://dune.com/protocolguild/protocol-guild](https://dune.com/protocolguild/protocol-guild) ADMIRAL / e67a77d50c38e137 --- *Originally published on [admiral](https://paragraph.com/@0xhoss/fueling-ethereum-s-engine-the-protocol-guild)*