Recently, I feel that @Linea.eth is changing very distinctly.

No longer just the face of “zkEVM of Consensys” to scale Ethereum, but a network learning to detach itself from the shadow of its parent — to become an independent, self-operating, self-responsible entity, and to create its own rhythm of life.
@Linea.eth #Linea

I see this not only as a technical step, but as a symbolic moment for the entire rollup era: where decentralization begins to return to its original meaning.

Throughout 2023–2024, most layer-2s talked about decentralization, but the reality remained a 'semi-centralized' model: one sequencer, one prover, and a few 'permitted' nodes.

$LINEA was once like that. But the 2025 roadmap shows they genuinely want to reach decentralization at the infrastructure level.

I think the difference lies in the fact that they are not just 'opening rights', but are restructuring the entire system to make decentralization the default mechanism rather than an option.

And when you start designing the system with the belief that 'anyone can operate', you are on the right path to a living network.

The first step is to decentralize the sequencer.

Currently, every block on Linea is ordered by infrastructure controlled by Consensys. This puts the network at risk of censorship and downtime if issues arise.

The new plan will implement permissionless sequencers — anyone with sufficient stake and hardware can become a transaction ordering node.

This model is similar to Ethereum's proposer/builder separation, where the roles of producing and validating blocks are separated.

This helps the block market become more transparent, reducing the likelihood of MEV being concentrated in one hand, and turning the Linea network into a place where transaction flows self-balance based on real economic incentives.

I believe when sequencing becomes an open marketplace, Linea will naturally generate an operating rhythm similar to a miniature economy — with competition, fees, rewards, and penalties.

If sequencing is the heart, then proving is the nervous system of a zk-rollup.

Previously, Consensys owned the only prover, meaning the entire process of proving the validity of transactions was centralized.

The 2025 roadmap introduces the Proof Generation Network, where multiple independent provers can participate in generating proofs.

Each prover must stake assets to ensure correctness, and receive rewards based on speed, accuracy, and energy efficiency.

At that point, the proving process is no longer 'a gigantic computer', but an open market of trust, where each party competes to prove the truth the fastest.

I think this is the most exciting part. Because it allows decentralization to become 'economized' — each prover becomes a separate economic unit, operating on the principle of meritocracy.

The third step is to expand the Data Availability Layer.

Instead of being entirely dependent on Ethereum DA, Linea is experimenting with connections to other DA layers like Celestia or EigenDA.

This helps rollup data to be published on multiple layers, reducing gas costs, while allowing the system to remain independently viable even when Ethereum encounters congestion.

From an architectural perspective, this is a significant step: Linea is getting closer to a modular rollup model, where each module can be changed without disrupting the whole.

If Ethereum is a country, then Linea is building the first autonomous province — still sharing a constitution, but self-determining internal policies.

I have always thought that decentralization is not a state of 'completion', but an evolutionary process.

The more people participate in operations, the more streams of value are redistributed, making the network more vibrant.

Linea is heading in the right direction by transitioning from a 'trust Consensys' structure to a 'trust the mechanism' one.

This is similar to the process of an AI learning to escape the surveillance loop — from a centralized system controlled by humans, to a self-managed network through incentives and consensus.

At a philosophical level, decentralization is not just about resisting censorship, but about respecting the spontaneity of order.

A good decentralized system does not need a great leader, but needs rules that allow everyone to self-regulate to maintain balance.

According to DefiLlama, by the end of 2024, Linea has surpassed 430 million USD TVL, over 80 million transactions, and has become one of the zk-rollups with the fastest user growth.

Over 40% of the activity comes from native DEXs like SyncSwap and Velocore — a sign that native liquidity flows have formed.

On the testnet, proving costs have decreased by over 60% compared to Q2, and the time to verify a block has been shortened to less than 45 seconds.

This paves the way for the implementation of the prover marketplace in the first half of 2025, along with the open-source prover stack plan from Consensys.

When all layers — sequencing, proving, DA — are opened, Linea will not only be a zk-rollup on Ethereum... but a self-operating entity in the new modular ecosystem.

Of course, decentralization always has a downside.

Latency may increase when multiple sequencers compete for slots.

Governance could also be manipulated if Consensys still holds a large portion of the stake in the early stages.

The prover market risks 're-centralizing' — when only a few large teams have enough GPUs to compete.

And if incentives are unbalanced, the network may become congested as smaller provers drop out.

But I think that is inevitable. A living system cannot be perfect right from the start.

It must go through a phase of turmoil before achieving a new equilibrium.

I believe that 2025 will be the year Linea transitions from 'zkEVM technology' to a truly decentralized economy.

Where sequencers, provers, validators, developers, and users not only coexist... but share the network's rewards.

If Ethereum is the beginning of decentralization — then Linea could be the next chapter, where decentralization becomes feasible at the scale of millions of users.

And when looking back, we might say: 2025 is the year zk-rollups learned to stand on their own feet.

I find that beautiful — because decentralization is not just a programmer's dream, but a natural expression of digital evolution:

All systems yearn to live, to be free, to be trusted.

And Linea... is really getting closer to that.