Vitalik Buterin is signaling a serious reorganization of Ethereum’s layer 2 narrative. This implies not the top of rollups, however the finish of the concept that L2 is a shard whose major job is community scaling. He argues that with L1 charges at present low and gasoline limits anticipated to extend quickly in 2026, the unique premise of the rollup-centric roadmap not matches the fact on the bottom.
Buterin opened his X submit on February 3 by stating two pressures which have been constructing concurrently. L2 has moved into “Part 2” rather more slowly than anticipated, and the Ethereum mainnet is scaling by itself. In his phrases, this tendency breaks previous psychological fashions in each instructions.
“Ethereum must scale,” he wrote, summarizing how he framed his unique thesis. “The definition of ‘Ethereum scaling’ is that there exists a big block area backed by the complete belief and credit score of Ethereum… Whenever you carry out operations (together with ETH) inside that block area, your exercise is legitimate, uncensored, non-reversible, and untouched so long as Ethereum itself operates on that block area. Making a 10000 TPS EVM whose connection to the L1 is mediated by a multi-signature bridge is not going to scale Ethereum.”
The purpose is blunt. “This imaginative and prescient not is sensible.” Buterin says that as base tier capability scales, L1s not want L2s to behave as “branded shards,” and lots of are more and more skeptical that L2s can or need to meet the safety and management expectations implied by the label. He pointed to at the very least one L2 that “might not need to transcend step 1,” citing customer-centric regulatory necessities that “demand final management” in addition to technical issues about ZK-EVM security.
The necessity for change in Ethereum Layer-2
It isn’t offered as an indictment a lot as a change in classification. If L2 retains final management, it might nonetheless be a sound product for customers, however it should not be marketed as an “extension of Ethereum” within the strict sense envisioned within the rollup-centric roadmap, Buterin prompt. In that context, he argues, “we have to cease pondering that L2 is actually a ‘model shard’ and that it has the social standing and duties that include it.”
As an alternative, he describes a spectral mannequin. Some L2s could also be tightly backed by ETH’s safety ensures, whereas others could also be extra loosely and selectively supported relying on person wants. This framing of the spectrum implicitly makes room for per-app chains, totally different belief fashions, and non-EVM environments with out forcing a single “roll as much as shards” storyline.
For L2 groups, Buterin’s steering is easy: Do not repair ID by extension alone. When coping with ETH or Ethereum issued property, “at the very least the 1st step” is necessary, he argues. In any other case it might successfully act as a “separate L1 with a bridge”. In his view, the actual differentiators ought to be options and attributes that the bigger L1 doesn’t but supply, corresponding to specialised execution environments, privateness, sequencing traits corresponding to ultra-low latency, and non-financial use instances.
“I’ve turn into extra satisfied of the worth of native rollup precompilation,” Buterin stated. Particularly as soon as Ethereum consists of ZK-EVM proof verification, “L1 must be prolonged anyway”. The concept is to confirm ZK-EVM proofs and protocol-level pre-compilation, which is processed as a part of Ethereum itself. Which means it’s going to “mechanically improve with Ethereum,” and if there are bugs, “Ethereum will hardfork to repair the bugs.”
The ultimate level is subtext. He desires a path the place trustless verification and interoperability may be extra simply achieved with no “safety council” and the place rollups can lock EVM correctness instantly into Ethereum whereas including customized performance. He additionally linked this path to synchronous composability, i.e. transactions that may safely scale L1 and L2 liquidity with tight coupling, and referred to ongoing analysis on tips on how to mix pre-confirmation with base roll-up and real-time proof.
Buterin’s conclusion leaves room for uncomfortable penalties. A permissionless ecosystem will create chains with parts that “depend on belief, have backdoors, or are insecure,” he wrote, and this “can’t be averted.” The mission he frames is to make endorsements readable to customers whereas strengthening Ethereum’s base layer. This means that the following section of L2 competitors will not be about who “scales Ethereum,” however reasonably about who can credibly outline and show what they really ship.
At press time, ETH was buying and selling at $2,256.
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