From memes to MetaMask Card, we’re quickly finding new ways to live together onchain.
Editor’s Note:* For the latest from the Linea ecosystem and constellation of communities, check out the weekly Sequencer livestream on X and YouTube.*
It has been a quarter century since Robert Putnam famously and controversially declared the collapse of modern community in his book, “Bowling Alone.” The past two decades have seen time spent alone go up by another 20 percent. Similar declines were reported in other countries and areas of life around the world. In the years since, centralized tech and social media platforms helped intensify a spreading sense of social isolation that’s often described as an epidemic of loneliness.
Put simply, the web2 era led by extractive and reckless Big Tech algorithms wrecked our inevitable transition to digital-first communities.
Web3 and living onchain provides the corrective antidote by enabling limitless, permissionless and organic creation of communities without platforms that ransom your personal data and timeline as the price of entry.
A Zk Ark for Memes
So far, Linea’s earliest communities have sprung up around memes, including one that builds off of the familiar iconography of MetaMask and its fox logo, which is itself a strong symbol of a web3 community simultaneously committed to sovereignty and supporting each other on the journey to building a more decentralized world.
“Linea has some of the best potential to onboard new users to crypto,” the Foxy team says. “Consensys has the legacy name/reputation paired with the safety and reliability of the MetaMask wallet. “
Nicola, a core member of the LinPuss team behind the most popular blindfolded cat meme in history, echoed those sentiments. LinPuss is “super bullish” on Linea thanks to great support from the team and introductions to other projects to grow community exponentially.
The same goes for Pengmilio and the @Linus team, who you should certainly never fade.
“Every chain will have its top memecoin, and we are betting on Linea,” Pengmilio said. “Don’t fade institutional capital, don’t fade Consensys, don’t fade MetaMask, don’t fade $LINUS.”
Community That Runs Deep and Wide
Communities look out for each other, which is why having MetaMask and Infura as part of our family through Consensys is so valuable. “Linea being a product of Consensys, the powerhouse behind essential web3 tools like MetaMask and Infura, gave us confidence in its credibility and long-term vision,” said Zarolo from the Lynex team. “Meeting the Linea team and witnessing the significant attention the chain was receiving left us optimistic about its future. Another major factor was seeing MetaMask’s seamless integration of Linea directly into its wallet.”
Linea is also the home network for MetaMask Card, a debit card that allows you to convert your crypto to real-world purchases anywhere Mastercard is accepted. Using the card is an expression of community that also directly supports the growth of the community, with more rewards on the way soon.
The strength of the community and activity onchain has inspired other projects to spring up organically. Trafficante’s daily Linea Today rundown has quickly become a leading source for catching up with ecosystem happenings.
“I like (Linea’s) way of doing things. They are creating a lot of communities all under one chain. Consensys is leading the way to mass adoption,” Trafficante said.
Linea is already the home to communities that no one on the Linea team planned. And this is just the beginning.
As Joe Lubin said recently in Bangkok:
”Our global Decentralization Project will bring new kinds of sovereignty to the people and communities of this planet. And it will grow viral, crossing different kinds of borders, because once you see decentralization at work, you can’t unsee it.”
Look for more about, and from, the Linea community every week in our weekly livestreams. For now we’re calling it The Sequencer. This is just the beginning.