An independent foundation for Rust makes a lot of sense. No doubt the Linux Foundation will pounce on this opportunity to absorb yet another project into its orbit... I would prefer if Rust steered clear of LF / CNCF if possible. Their governance and financials are opaque, they prioritize corporate sponsors and fancy events at the expense of every other priority, and there is already too much power concentrated in a very small group of people.

The Linux Foundation / CNCF people will tell you that it's really hard to setup a foundation, and you should leave it up to them. I don't think that's actually true. In my opinion LF gets much more value out of projects (through compounded brand value and revenue opportunities) than the other way around.

Nothing terrible will happen if you go with them... but nothing amazing will happen either. You will get the bare minimum support and infrastructure, and nothing more. Meanwhile, a few people who don't actually contribute any open-source code will benefit immensely from the Rust brand.

EDIT: I just realized that the Linux Foundation people are already on this thread making their sales pitch...