Protocol Guild contributor cheeky-gorilla has raised concerns over a significant pay disparity affecting Ethereum L1 core developers, who reportedly earn 50% to 60% less than market rates. Speaking at EthCC[9], he highlighted that new high-performance chains and leading L2 projects are attracting talent with compensation packages over ten times higher. This talent drain threatens to stall critical Ethereum initiatives like PeerDAS and Verkle trees. To counteract this, Protocol Guild has amassed over $100 million in assets from donations by Ethereum ecosystem projects, distributed to more than 160 core contributors through a four-year vesting schedule. Cheeky-gorilla also reiterated "The 1% Pledge," urging projects benefiting from Ethereum to allocate 1% of their token supply to Protocol Guild, emphasizing that investing in L1 core development is crucial for Ethereum's future.