A new survey on remuneration raises concerns concerning the retention of talents and the growth of the network.
According to a new Guild protocol report, Ethereum’s main developers earn much less than they could do elsewhere.
The survey of more than 100 contributors revealed that basic Ethereum developers earn 50 to 60% less than market offers. Ethereum is currently the largest blockchain in the world by locked total value (TVL) in decentralized finance (DEFI), with nearly $ 110 billion currently held in protocols based on Ethereum, according to Defillama.
Protocol Guild is a decentralized group that finances the development of the Ethereum ecosystem, supported by eminent projects based on Ethereum like Eigenlayer and Etherfi.
Median wages for Ethereum developers interviewed came around $ 140,000, compared to more than $ 300,000 (more token or equity) for comparable roles in other projects. In addition, Ethereum median contributors receive no advantage, with the typical token or equity grant reported at $ 0.
This difference creates pressure because almost 40% of the protocol developers said they had received external job offers in the past year, including many rival blockchains or layer 2 networks (L2). Protocol Guild estimates that the average external offer has come from around $ 359,000, more than double what most of Ethereum contributors earn today.
Growing risk for network development
Protocol Guild warned in his report that the remuneration gap is a growing threat to the network. “Inadequate remuneration is a risk for retention of talents, the progression of the Ethereum technical roadmap and credible long -term neutrality,” said the report.
The group also called the wider community of Ethereum to fill the gap, noting that the progress of the network depends on the maintenance of fairly offset developers on board.
An effort already in place is the “1% of engagement”, where projects in the ecosystem such as Eigenlayer, Etherfi, Taiko and Puffest give a small part of their token token with Guild Protocol. In 2023, Vaneck, a world investment manager, announced that it would make a donation of 10% of the profits generated by Sound of Ether Spot with Guild Protocol.
This funding is then used to increase remuneration, reduce turnover and maintain Ethereum upgrades on the right track. Since its launch in 2022, Protocol Guild has distributed more than $ 32 million to the main developers of Ethereum through donations and promises, the typical member receiving $ 66,000 in the last 12 months, noted the report.
This additional funding represented almost a third of total remuneration for many contributors, 59% of members claiming that it was “very or extremely important” for their ability to continue working on Ethereum.
The report concluded by focusing on high issues for Ethereum, because the network’s ambition is to guarantee 1 billion of dollars of value, and it already serves millions of users and takes care of thousands of decentralized applications – including protocols DEFI Mars such as Lido (38 billion TVL dollars) and Aave (41 billion dollars TVL).
According to the Deviant Price page, Native Token Ether (ETH) of Ethereum is currently negotiated at $ 4,350, up 88% in the past year.
