Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the original vision of layer-2 networks as Ethereum's primary scaling engine "no longer makes sense" in a Wednesday post.
Major L2 builders responded within hours, broadly agreeing rollups must evolve beyond cheaper Ethereum.
Buterin argued many L2s failed to fully inherit Ethereum's security due to continued reliance on multisig bridges. The base layer can now handle more throughput through gas-limit increases and future native rollups.
"If you create a 10,000 TPS EVM where its connection to L1 is mediated by a multisig bridge, then you are not scaling Ethereum," Buterin stated.
What Happened
Karl Floersch, Optimism Foundation co-founder, welcomed the challenge of building a modular L2 stack supporting "the full spectrum of decentralization." He acknowledged major hurdles including long withdrawal windows and lack of production-ready Stage 2 proofs.
"Stage 2 isn't production-ready," Floersch wrote. Current proofs lack sufficient security to protect major bridges, he added.
Steven Goldfeder, Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs co-founder, took a forceful stance. He insisted scaling remains a core L2 value and said Arbitrum wasn't built as "a service to Ethereum" but because Ethereum provides high-security, low-cost settlement.
Goldfeder cited periods when Arbitrum and Base each processed over 1,000 transactions per second while Ethereum handled fewer. He warned that if Ethereum appears hostile to rollups, institutions might launch independent layer-1 chains instead.
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Why It Matters
The debate reflects Ethereum's shifting roadmap as the base layer gains capabilities while L2s reposition as specialized environments. Jesse Pollak, Base head, agreed L1 scaling benefits the entire ecosystem and said L2s cannot just be "Ethereum but cheaper."
Base focused on onboarding users while working toward Stage 2 decentralization through applications, account abstraction and privacy features.
StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson offered a cryptic response: "Say Starknet without saying Starknet," hinting some ZK-native L2s already fit Buterin's specialized role.
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