Linea is not a machine. It is a 'biological system' carefully designed by ConsenSys. We should not analyze it using TPS (performance), but instead dissect it using 'metabolism'. Its sole purpose is to 'digest' the 'raw intent' of the entire network with the highest efficiency and to 'metabolize' it into 'value that can be captured by ConsenSys'.
Ingestion - MetaMask
A living organism first needs to 'eat'. Linea's 'mouth' is MetaMask.
MetaMask has tens of millions of users, and what it captures is not “transactions,” but the more primitive “nutrients” of “intention” — the user's “intent.” When users are contemplating “Should I Swap?” or “Should I Mint?”, their “desires,” “fears,” and “hesitations” (i.e., “intent”) have already entered ConsenSys's “perceptual range.”
MetaMask, as the “mouth,” its design (UI/UX) determines “what can be eaten” and “how the taste of what is eaten is.” ConsenSys, by continuously optimizing MetaMask's “usability” (taste), is enticing the entire ecosystem's “nutrients” (users) to actively enter its “digestive tract.”
Digestion - Infura and Linea Sequencer
After the “food” (original intent) enters the “esophagus” (Infura), it is sent to the “stomach” (Linea Sequencer). This is the core place of “digestion.”
“Stomach Acid” (MEV): The centralized Linea sequencer is like an environment of “strong acid.” It has 100% control over the “ordering” of transactions. This means it can decompose food with “perfect efficiency.” In other L2s (public digestive tracts), various “bacteria” (external MEV bots) come to compete for “nutrients.” However, in Linea's “private stomach,” ConsenSys is the only “digestive enzyme.” It can “extract” 100% of the “calories” (MEV and gas fees) without leaving any residue.
“Enzymatic Hydrolysis” (EVM Equivalence): Linea's EVM equivalence is its “digestive system”'s “enzymes.” It ensures that it can “digest” the most complex and highest value “proteins” (i.e., complex L1 contracts like Uniswap V3, Aave V3). It does not need to be “picky”; it can “digest” everything in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Absorption & Excretion - ZK Prover and L1
The “stomach” breaks down food, and the “nutrients” (value) are fully absorbed by the “small intestine” (ConsenSys's treasury).
Then, this organism needs to “excrete.” It must prove to the host (Ethereum L1) that it is a “beneficial symbiont,” not a “parasite.”
This “excretion” is the ZK proof (ZK Proof).
ZK proof is the most “clean” and “harmless” “excretion” that ConsenSys can present. It tells L1: “Look, I (Linea) have digested a massive amount of transactions on L2, but I only excrete this ‘mathematically perfect,’ highly compressed ‘summary’ to you (L1). I have greatly reduced your ‘metabolic burden’ (block space).”
This is a perfect “symbiotic” disguise.
A “perfect” parasite
Let us re-examine Linea's role in this “biological metaphor”:
It disguises itself as a “symbiont,” claiming to help the host (Ethereum L1) “share” computational pressure.
But its “metabolic system” design (MetaMask + Infura + Sequencer) is a masterpiece of a “perfect parasite.” It attracts the host's (L1) “users” (L1/L2 shared users) into its own “extracorporeal digestive system” (Linea), anesthetizing them with “EVM compatibility” (perfect enzymes) and “smooth experience” (perfect taste).
Then, it “absorbs” all the “nutrients” (MEV and gas fees) with 100% efficiency, and finally only “excretes” a “harmless” ZK proof to the host, and “hypocritically” pays a “rent” (L1 verification fees).
Linea is not “scaling” Ethereum. It has built a more efficient “vampire” organ on Ethereum's “skin.” It “metabolizes” this ecosystem, not just “serving” this ecosystem.
