Crypto: Vitalik Buterin Tempers Vision For ETH L2s, Pushes Native Rollups

The Ethereum co-founder said many layer‑2s have failed to decentralize and continue to be mediated by multisig bridges instead of inheriting Ethereum’s security advantages.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has reversed his long-held view that layer-2s should be the primary way to scale Ethereum, saying the approach “no longer makes sense.”

“We need a new path,” Buterin said in a post to X on Tuesday, arguing that many layer-2s have failed to decentralize and that the Ethereum mainnet is now sufficiently scaling, with improvements coming from gas limit increases and soon native rollups.

Layer-2s were envisioned as extensions of Ethereum, managing most transactions at high speed and low cost while inheriting Ethereum’s security.

Buterin said layer-2s were meant to partake in “Ethereum scaling” by creating block space that is fully secured by the Ethereum mainnet, in which all transactions become valid, uncensored and final; however, many layer-2s have failed to reach that standard, he said:

Ethereum’s technical roadmap had long focused on layer-2s as the primary avenue for scaling the network.

It also comes as some Ethereum developers have urged a focus on scaling the Ethereum mainnet.

Among them is Max Resnick, a former researcher at the Ethereum infrastructure firm Consensys, who moved to the Solana ecosystem after his push to prioritize scaling the Ethereum mainnet failed to gain enough support.

Ryan Sean Adams, co-host of the Ethereum show Bankless, also expressed support for Buterin’s view, stating: “This is ‘the pivot.’ I'm glad it's now being said. Strong ETH, Strong L1.”

Buterin said he has become increasingly convinced of the role that precompiled native rollups will have in scaling the Ethereum mainnet, particularly once zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) proofs are integrated into the base layer.

Source: CoinTelegraph