Are Ethereum developers working for a living? With salaries at half the market rate, the Protocol Guild steps in to fill the void.

A recent report reveals that Ethereum core developers earn a median annual salary of $140,000, which is about half the market rate compared to other major blockchain projects. Despite receiving external job offers averaging nearly $360,000, most choose to stay within the Ethereum ecosystem due to a sense of mission, the technical challenge, and the public value of the work.

The Protocol Guild plays a key role in retaining developers by providing supplemental on-chain income through token vesting, with a median subsidy of approximately $67,000.
This funding model, supported by ecosystem projects pledging 1% of their token supply, has distributed over $32 million to developers since 2022.
Many developers also supplement their income through consulting, grants, and audits, valuing the stability and long-term incentives tied to Ethereum’s success over higher-risk token offers from competitors.

Author: Zen, PANews

In the new era of the digital economy, Ethereum is more than just an ordinary blockchain; it's an infrastructure that's reshaping the rules of global value transfer and trust. Maintaining this infrastructure are a handful of hundreds of engineers deeply engaged in the protocol's core, working tirelessly to safeguard consensus and security.

Contrary to public impression, these developers who build the top ecosystem receive relatively "low" wages.

Ethereum core developers earn half their market value for their work?

A recent report from the Protocol Guild reveals that the median annual salary for core software developers who maintain and improve the Ethereum blockchain is $140,000, far below the industry average. Their combined salary and bonuses are 50-60% lower than the market average. Furthermore, the majority of developers in the Ethereum ecosystem receive no equity or token incentives, with the median typical equity reward being zero.

According to Levels.fyi data, including base salary and any potential stock compensation and bonuses, the median annual salary of a software engineer at the Solana Foundation is $800,000; the median total salary of a software engineer at Aptos Labs in the United States is approximately $330,000; and the median annual salary of a software engineer at Mysten Labs (the company behind Sui) is approximately $378,000.

Levels.fyi is a salary and job level transparency platform for technology practitioners. It aggregates and displays the job level systems and salary mappings of multiple blockchain companies.

Furthermore, developer salaries at prominent blockchains like Avalanche and Polkadot are generally higher than those at Ethereum, often accompanied by substantial token or equity incentives. Meanwhile, at major exchanges like Coinbase, the median annual salary for US-based software engineers is $400,000. Even entry-level software engineers receive a base salary of $149,000, plus approximately $56,000 in stock and bonuses.

It can be seen that Ethereum core developers are at a clear disadvantage in terms of salary level. However, as developers of the top blockchains, they are usually very competitive in the talent market.

When they received job offers from other blockchain projects, the average offer was nearly $360,000, with the median being $300,000, nearly double the amount. Of the 111 responses received by Protocol Guild, 42 respondents received a total of 108 offers. The companies poaching their employees were primarily Layer 2 and other Layer 1 public blockchain projects.

Despite the lure of high salaries, Ethereum developers are generally unmoved

However, despite the high salaries in the job market, most Ethereum core developers still choose to stay within the ecosystem.

A sense of mission and influence are important factors in retaining employees. The report and interviewee feedback show that many core developers see themselves as maintainers of "public goods" (protocol-level infrastructure)—they believe that Ethereum's technical influence and public value outweigh the short-term interests of a single company.

At the same time, research and protocol design talents have high internal value and growth paths within the Ethereum ecosystem. The high complexity of the Ethereum ecosystem also provides engineers with rare technical challenges, opportunities for academic publications, and project leadership.

In addition, although the income from work is relatively low, many core contributors can make up for it through multiple income lines, such as consulting contracts, research grants, external audits, short-term hackathons, and teaching and research fees.

In addition, the Protocol Guild directly subsidizes developers through long-term vesting tokens on the chain, with the median amount reaching approximately $67,000, bringing the median overall income after the merger to approximately $207,000. This is substantial compensation for many people and reduces some salary disparities.

The survey shows that 59% of Protocol Guild members believe that the organization is crucial to their continued presence in the Ethereum ecosystem. Developers generally have a positive attitude towards the PG funding model, viewing it as an "equity package" to make up for insufficient income and as career security.

The Protocol Guild report also noted that many external offers, while potentially more attractive on paper, often involve large amounts of tokens or high-risk equity. Developers interviewed considered lock-up, market volatility, the project's long-term viability, and compliance risks. Consequently, some preferred to accept relatively stable long-term incentives closely tied to the Ethereum ecosystem, such as the subsidies offered by Protocol Guild, rather than staking their careers on the uncertain value of tokens.

How the Protocol Guild works: Providing over $32 million in “subsidies”

Protocol Guild is a decentralized fund dedicated to supporting Ethereum core development, established to fill gaps in developer compensation. PG itself does not directly employ developers, but rather serves as a "long-term incentive pool," providing core contributors with equity-like supplemental income through donations to ecosystem projects and token pledges. Currently, there are approximately 200-300 Ethereum core developers, of whom approximately 190 are Protocol Guild members.

Its operation mainly relies on the so-called "1% commitment" mechanism: participating projects act as "financiers" to lock 1% of their total issuance tokens to the Protocol Guild, which are regularly distributed to core developers through smart contracts in the form of four-year vesting (four-year unlocking).

To date, Ethereum ecosystem projects such as EigenLayer, Ether.fi, Taiko, and Puffer have pledged to inject 1% of their tokens into Protocol Guild. Furthermore, renowned asset management firm VanEck has announced a 10% donation of proceeds from its Ethereum ETF to Protocol Guild.

These funds are then pooled and distributed based on developer position weight and tenure through a transparent on-chain algorithm, essentially tied to the long-term success of the Ethereum ecosystem. The Protocol Guild founding team emphasizes that this isn't charity, but rather a form of economic infrastructure that aligns developer incentives with network growth.

In terms of effectiveness, Protocol Guild has distributed over $32 million to Ethereum core developers since its launch in 2022. This funding accounts for about one-third of the total income of many developers and plays a key role in whether they can continue to invest in development.

However, the Protocol Guild model still faces challenges. Currently, the size of donation projects and funds depends on a few institutions, with only three major foundations providing almost all funding commitments. Whether it can continue to expand in the future still requires the efforts of the community.