An independent team of developers has announced the launch of the Ethereum R1 ‘neutral rollup’, which will operate without its own token and without centralised oversight.
Introducing Ethereum R1 — The neutral rollup built for Ethereum
No token. No private sales. No governance cult.
Just Ethereum values, public funding, and community control.
? Why R1 matters & how you can join:
— Ethereum R1 (@ethereumR1) May 1, 2025
The core idea of R1 is to return to Ethereum’s fundamental values of decentralisation and neutrality.
According to the creators, instead of venture capital or asset sales, the project relies solely on donations. They believe this approach can achieve true neutrality and align with the ecosystem’s interests.
“Universal L2s should be consumer goods — simple, interchangeable, and free from centralised dependencies or risky governance,” the developers noted.
The new rollup is built on Nethermind’s Surge technology stack and uses open-source code from Taiko. The Taiko DAO will receive 1% of the network’s base fees until 2030 or until all fees are burned.
Ethereum R1 is intended to launch directly as a second-stage rollup — a fully decentralised system governed by smart contracts.
“If you believe rollups should be a commodity, not a cartel, this initiative is for you,” the creators added.
Earlier in May, developers from Wonderland proposed adopting a universal address format in Ethereum with clear identification of the corresponding L2 network, which would help avoid errors in cross-chain operations.