Vitalik Buterin made noteworthy observations regarding the role of Layer-2 (L2) solutions in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Buterin stated that L2s were initially positioned to scale Ethereum, but that vision no longer makes sense today. According to Buterin, both the slower-than-expected technical development of L2s and the fact that Ethereum’s mainnet (L1) has already begun scaling necessitate a rethinking of this approach.
Buterin stated that the fundamental definition of Ethereum scaling is “large block space generation backed by Ethereum’s complete security.” He explained that if a high-transaction-capacity chain’s connection to Ethereum is only provided via a multisig bridge, this does not constitute scaling Ethereum. Initially, L2s were designed as Ethereum’s “branded shards.” However, according to Buterin, the increase in L1 gas limits, the low transaction fees, and the planned larger capacity increases by 2026 indicate that this role is no longer mandatory.
Buterin also noted that some L2 projects are reluctant to transition to a fully secure model not only due to technical challenges but also because of regulatory requirements. He stated that these projects might need to offer their customers more control, which could be a valid choice in their own context. However, he added that in this case, the claim that these structures are “scaling” Ethereum in the sense envisioned in the rollup-centric roadmap would not be accurate. Nevertheless, he said that this is not a problem because Ethereum has now begun to scale directly on the L1 model.
According to Buterin, L2s should no longer be seen as official extensions of ETH, but rather as a broad spectrum with varying levels of connection to Ethereum. The ETH founder suggests that some might be strongly integrated with Ethereum’s security, while others might adopt more independent designs. This diversity allows users to make different security and performance preferences based on their needs.
On the Ethereum side, Buterin stated that more emphasis should be placed on the “native rollup precompile” approach. This model envisions a structure that can directly verify ZK-EVM proofs within the Ethereum protocol. Buterin said that such a system could be automatically updated along with Ethereum and, in case of an error, could be corrected via a hard fork. He added that this could create a stronger and less trustworthy interoperability framework that doesn’t require a security council. He also noted that this approach could pave the way for more advanced technical possibilities such as synchronous composition.
Buterin’s message suggests that the role of L2 networks needs to be redefined within the Ethereum ecosystem. Polygon, Arbitrum, StarkNet, Optimism, and Mantle are some of the prominent L2 altcoin projects. Additionally, networks without tokens, such as Base, are also considered L2 networks.
*This is not investment advice.
