Consensys launches Linea Layer 2 on mainnet alpha release

Blockchain development firm Consensys has released its highly anticipated Linea on the mainnet. The alpha release of its zkEVM rollup will onboard its testnet partners this week and open the network to the public during next week's EthCC conference.

Linea is a Layer 2 chain that leverages ZK-Rollups for scaling and is compatible with Ethereum apps.

This launch comes after a successful testnet phase where Linea received significant attention from users, becoming one of the largest active projects on Goerli testnet. During this phase, 5.2 million unique wallets participated, executing over 41 million transactions within just three months, though many of them could be classified as airdrop farmers.

Consensys said Linea aims to offer a cost-effective solution for Ethereum application developers and users alike, with transaction costs up to 15 times cheaper than Ethereum Layer 1. It is fully compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) bytecode and integrates with existing developer tools on Ethereum.

“The next chapter of web3 will be written on Ethereum L2s, and Linea is poised to become a major trusted L2 execution environment for scalable dApps,” said Joe Lubin, founder and CEO of Consensys.

Consensys-owned self-custody web3 wallet MetaMask and other developer tools like Infura, Diligence and Hyperledger Besu will operate with the network. Linea has also teamed up with Nansen, aiming to deliver exhaustive on-chain data analytics to both developers and investors. Moreover, Linea will integrate Nansen Query, giving users with the ability to explore in-depth network activity insights, inclusive of features like entity aggregates.