The Ethereum Challenge group has introduced a brand new initiative geared toward fixing a rising downside with Ethereum: the ecosystem is just too fragmented.
The mission, unveiled on the EthCC convention in Cannes, is known as the “Ethereum Financial Zone” (EEZ) and is designed to make Ethereum’s many add-on networks (referred to as Layer 2 or L2) work collectively extra seamlessly.
This framework is developed by Gnosis, Zisk, and the Ethereum Basis. Whereas Gnosis has been engaged on Ethereum infrastructure for a few years, Zisk focuses on zero-knowledge proof know-how.
Whereas it relied on L2 networks to scale for a few years as Ethereum, these networks typically function like impartial islands. Customers should use bridges to maneuver belongings between belongings, which is time consuming, expensive, and dangerous. Then again, builders typically should rebuild the identical instruments on every community.
EEZ goals to alter this by making all these networks really feel like one unified system. Merely put, it permits apps and transactions on totally different Ethereum networks to work together immediately, with out the necessity for bridges, whereas counting on Ethereum’s core safety.
The announcement comes as Ethereum’s long-term reliance on L2 scaling faces renewed debate. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin not too long ago steered that the ecosystem might must rethink a few of its L2-heavy roadmaps, particularly as fragmentation and consumer expertise points proceed. EEZ seems to immediately tackle these considerations by searching for to unify liquidity, infrastructure, and consumer flows throughout the community slightly than including one more siled chain.
The concept is to create shared liquidity (so funds can transfer freely), less complicated infrastructure for builders, and a smoother expertise for customers. Moreover, the system will proceed to make use of ETH as the primary token for charges, slightly than introducing new tokens.
This mission is being developed brazenly with enter from the broader Ethereum group.
“Ethereum doesn’t have a scaling downside. It has a fragmentation downside. Each new L2 is a silo, making it troublesome to scale seamlessly and produce worth again to the Ethereum mainnet,” Gnosis co-founder Friederike Ernst stated in a press launch shared with CoinDesk. “The EEZ is designed to do the alternative.”
Learn extra: From ‘Ethereum sidekick’ to standalone star: How Vitalik Buterin’s newest pivot is forcing Layer 2 progress
