Ethereum was cheaper than anticipated in 2020, and rollup decentralization was slower than promised in 2021. These two realities are pressured the ecosystem to rewrite what “a layer-2” is for.
Vitalik Buterin’s latest publish on Ethereum Analysis bluntly frames the shift: the unique imaginative and prescient of layer-2 (L2) blockchains as “branded shards” of Ethereum is not viable, and the ecosystem requires a brand new path.
Nonetheless, this is not abandonment. As an alternative, it’s a re-tiering of expectations and a sharper definition of what various kinds of rollups are literally constructing.
The query now could be the brand new job description, for the reason that premise underlying the rollup-centric roadmap has weakened.
Stage 2 is scarce
L2BEAT supplies the clearest framework for understanding rollup decentralization by means of its Phases system.
Stage 0 denotes that coaching wheels stay in place, with significant belief assumptions persisting.
Stage 1 represents partial decentralization with stronger escape hatches and proof ensures, however nonetheless significant improve or governance belief.
Stage 2 is the “no coaching wheels” milestone, by which important security properties are enforced by code moderately than by discretionary actors.
The present distribution of worth secured throughout the L2 ecosystem signifies this. In response to L2BEAT’s rollup scaling abstract, roughly 91.5% of the listed worth sits in Stage 1 rollups, 8.5% in Stage 0, and roughly 0.01% in Stage 2.
The highest three rollups by worth account for roughly 71% of the whole, indicating that “Stage 2 progress” largely is dependent upon the choices of the biggest few initiatives, moderately than on what smaller experimental chains try.
The core blocker is whether or not the proof methods may be overridden and whether or not upgrades face sturdy delays and constraints.
Improve discretion stays widespread among the many largest rollups, and transferring past it has confirmed slower and tougher than anticipated by the 2020-2021 optimism.
Some initiatives have explicitly acknowledged that they could not want to proceed past Stage 1, citing not solely technical constraints associated to zkEVM security but additionally regulatory necessities that require absolute management.
That is a reputable product determination for sure buyer bases, nevertheless it clarifies that these chains should not “scaling Ethereum” within the sense the rollup-centric roadmap initially meant.
ProjectStageTVS ($)Proof typeUpgrade key / safety council current?NotesArbitrum One116.16BOptimisticYesEmergency path can skip delaysBase Chain110.99BOptimisticYesUpgrades authorized by a number of events; no delayOP Mainnet11.88BOptimisticYesSecurity council on the spot improve powerLighter0 (Appchain)1.27BValidityYes21d delay, emergency can go to 0Starknet1676.17MValidityYesSecurity council can improve with no delayInk1523.71MOptimisticYesSecurity council + basis approvals; no common delayLinea0492.93MValidityYesMultisig can improve with no delayZKsync Era0417.07MValidityYesEmergency board can bypass improve delaysKatana0297.94MValidityYessecurity council can take away the improve delayUnichain1168.81MOptimisticYesno exit window for normal upgrades; on the spot powers
Why the constraints modified
The Oct. 2, 2020, publish “A rollup-centric Ethereum roadmap” on the Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians laid out the unique thesis.
Fuel costs have been climbing, some purposes have been being pressured to close down, and the conclusion was that the ecosystem could be “all-in on rollups” for the close to and medium time period.
Base-layer scaling ought to prioritize information capability for rollups, and customers would more and more dwell on L2.
Two laborious details have shifted since then. First, L1 is considerably cheaper at current. Etherscan reveals a seven-day common transaction charge of round $0.35 and gasoline snapshots within the fractions of a gwei.
On Jan. 16, Ethereum recorded an all-time excessive of two,885,524 transactions in a single day. The narrative is “busier and cheaper,” precisely the alternative of the 2020 disaster that motivated the rollup-centric roadmap.
Second, L1 execution capability is rising. Ethereum’s block gasoline restrict was raised to roughly 60 million after broad validator signaling in late 2025, up from the long-standing 30 million restrict.
At roughly 12-second blocks, 60 million gasoline interprets to roughly 5 million gasoline per second.
Aspirational group discussions have talked about targets as excessive as 180 million gasoline, which might signify a threefold improve, although that is still directional moderately than dedicated.
The clear interpretation: the 2020 premise that “L1 cannot scale for many customers” is weaker in at the moment’s charge regime. This creates room for L2s to be a spectrum of safety and sovereignty trade-offs moderately than all being near-identical “shards” competing solely on worth.
L2s as a spectrum, not clones
Buterin’s proposed reframing treats L2s as occupying a full spectrum.
On one finish are chains backed by the complete religion and credit score of Ethereum, with distinctive properties, not simply EVM clones but additionally privacy-focused methods, non-EVM execution environments, or ultra-low-latency sequencers.
On the different finish are choices with various ranges of Ethereum connectivity that customers and purposes can select primarily based on their particular wants.
The brand new minimal bar is easy: when you deal with ETH or Ethereum-issued belongings, attain a minimum of Stage 1.
In any other case, you are a separate L1 with a bridge, and will name your self that. The differentiation bar is tougher: be the most effective at one thing aside from “low-cost EVM.”
Examples Buterin cites embrace privateness, effectivity specialised to a selected utility, really excessive scaling past even an expanded L1, basically totally different designs for non-financial purposes corresponding to social or id methods, ultra-low-latency sequencing, or options corresponding to built-in oracles or decentralized dispute decision that are not computationally verifiable.
The mechanism that may facilitate that is nonetheless underneath investigation. A “native rollup precompile” would allow Ethereum to confirm a typical zkEVM proof throughout the protocol.
For rollups which might be “EVM plus extras,” this implies the canonical EVM verification happens trustlessly on the protocol degree, and the rollup solely must show its customized extensions individually.
This might allow stronger interoperability and pave the best way for synchronous composability, by which contracts throughout totally different rollups can work together throughout the similar transaction. But, it stays a analysis trajectory, not a deployed characteristic.
The Jan. 16 publish “Combining preconfirmations with primarily based rollups for synchronous composability” and the Feb. 2 publish “Synchronous composability between rollups through realtime proving” lay out the design area however do not signify shipped protocol adjustments.
Three buckets rising
If this reframing takes maintain, anticipate rollups to separate into clearer classes.
The primary bucket is Stage 2-chasing settlement rollups that maximize Ethereum safety inheritance.
These initiatives purpose to attain code-enforced ensures with minimal discretionary governance, treating “scaling Ethereum” as their core mandate.
The second bucket is regulated or managed execution environments.
These optimize for compliance, permissioning, or particular institutional necessities. They could by no means progress past Stage 1 by design, and they need to market that management truthfully as a characteristic moderately than pretending to supply full decentralization.
The third bucket is specialised chains optimized for latency, privateness, app-specific execution, or non-financial use circumstances.
Privateness rollups utilizing zkProofs to cover transaction particulars, ultra-low-latency sequencers for buying and selling purposes, or social and id methods with basically totally different state fashions all fall inside this class.
These do not should be EVM-compatible and even monetary to justify their existence, they should present worth that their customers cannot get elsewhere.
Tasks corresponding to Arbitrum One, Optimism, Base, zkSync Period, and Starknet will every must determine which class they’re pursuing. The ecosystem is giant sufficient to assist all three, however the assumption that each L2 performs the identical perform is fading.
What adjustments for customers and builders
For customers, the burden shifts to understanding ensures. Escape hatches, improve delays, proof methods, and censorship resistance grow to be product differentiators moderately than assumed properties.
Wallets and interfaces might want to label belief assumptions extra explicitly, and the L2BEAT Phases framework goals to make these assumptions legible.
For builders, “low-cost EVM” is commoditized. Differentiation strikes to privateness and customized digital machines, ultra-low-latency sequencing, app-specific throughput optimizations, non-financial purposes in social, id, or AI contexts, or compliance and permissioning as an express product, with out claiming it is “Ethereum scaling.”
For the broader market narrative, anticipate a louder debate about whether or not L2s “inherit Ethereum safety” in observe moderately than as an aspiration.
The critique is already a speaking level amongst rival L1 proponents, and the ecosystem’s acknowledgment that many giant rollups stay at Stage 1 with discretionary governance provides that critique higher traction.
Is an L2 revolution about to start out?
Ethereum is unlikely to see an L2 revolution. As an alternative, it can witness a re-tiering.
The rollup-centric roadmap assumed that L2s could be near-identical “branded shards” competing totally on value, whereas L1 would stay costly and capacity-constrained.
That assumption not holds. L1 is cheaper and increasing, whereas L2s are diverging sooner than they’re converging of their safety fashions and use circumstances, regardless of Stage 2 decentralization.
The brand new path acknowledges that actuality. L2s that custody ETH or Ethereum-issued belongings ought to meet a minimal safety bar, Stage 1 a minimum of. And past that, they need to compete on specialization and express ensures moderately than pretending to be interchangeable.
Native verification primitives and analysis on synchronous composability sign the place Ethereum goals to make that simpler, however these are trajectories, not deployed options.
The job description modified.
The minimal bar is to supply credible safety when dealing with Ethereum belongings. The differentiation bar is being the most effective at one thing, and being trustworthy concerning the belief mannequin.
The rollup-centric roadmap received upgraded to accommodate the fact that L1 is scaling and L2s are extra various than the unique imaginative and prescient anticipated.
