
Tea (TEA) is the native token of the tea Protocol, a blockchain-based protocol built to support open-source software developers and maintainers. The protocol tracks the role that software packages play across open-source ecosystems and uses this information to allocate rewards to projects that contribute to the software supply chain.
The tea Protocol uses Proof of Contribution to assess the impact of registered open-source projects across software dependency networks. This system produces a score known as teaRank, which helps determine how rewards are distributed. The protocol is designed to recognise direct contributions as well as packages that support other software projects as dependencies.
TEA is also the native token of Tea Network, an Ethereum Layer 2 built using the OP Stack. Within this network, TEA is used to pay transaction fees and interact with protocol functions.
TEA is used to interact with the tea Protocol and Tea Network. Developers and maintainers can use the protocol to register open-source projects, receive rewards linked to their project’s measured contribution and take part in the network’s reward system.
TEA can also be staked to support registered open-source software projects. Staking acts as a signal of support for projects and their dependency networks, and may be linked to reward distribution for maintainers and supporters based on measured software supply chain impact. The protocol also includes rules that can penalise staked tokens if projects or participants act against protocol requirements.
On Tea Network, TEA is used as the gas token. This means it is required to pay for transactions, smart contract interactions and other activity on the network. TEA is also used in governance, allowing holders to take part in decisions related to protocol rules, reward settings, treasury use and network upgrades.
Tea was co-founded by Max Howell and Timothy Lewis. Max Howell is known as the creator of Homebrew, a package manager used by developers to install and manage software. Timothy Lewis is also listed as a co-founder of the project.
The project was created to address funding and incentive issues in open-source software by linking token rewards to the measured impact of software packages across dependency networks.