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Briefly
- Vitalik Buterin mentioned Ethereum wants “a brand new path” that depends much less on layer-2 networks.
- He warned some L2s have compromised on decentralization and shouldn’t be handled as “branded” extensions of Ethereum.
- Buterin urged L2 builders to pitch a price proposition past merely “scaling Ethereum.”
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin mentioned Tuesday that the community should discover “a brand new path” involving much less dependence on layer-2 scaling networks, also called L2s.
“The unique imaginative and prescient of L2s and their function in Ethereum not is smart,” Buterin wrote in an X put up.
For years, Ethereum builders have pursued a long-term purpose of “scaling” the community, which might successfully imply creating sufficient obtainable block area to permit all method of functions and transactions to circulation on the community, with out sacrificing its safety, effectivity, and decentralization.
There have just lately been some discussions on the continuing function of L2s within the Ethereum ecosystem, particularly within the face of two information:
* L2s' progress to stage 2 (and, secondarily, on interop) has been far slower and harder than initially anticipated
* L1 itself is scaling,…— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 3, 2026
Many within the Ethereum group, together with Buterin, beforehand mentioned this purpose would greatest be achieved through layer-2 networks, similar to Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism, that are constructed on prime of the Ethereum mainnet by third-parties.
However Buterin has now modified his tune, arguing that the Ethereum mainnet is presently scaling at enough velocity—and additional, that some L2s can’t be trusted to reside as much as Ethereum’s requirements, and thus shouldn’t be thought of “branded” shards of the community, significantly with regards to enough decentralization.
“L2s aren’t ready or keen to fulfill the properties {that a} true ‘branded shard’ would require,” the Ethereum co-founder mentioned. “I've even seen not less than one explicitly saying that they could by no means need to transcend stage 1, not only for technical causes round ZK-EVM security, but in addition as a result of their prospects' regulatory wants require them to have final management.”
As Buterin first laid out in 2022, “stage 1” L2s are these with “restricted coaching wheels” with regards to safety and decentralization, whereas “stage 2” networks are totally decentralized.
Buterin proposed Tuesday that customers and builders ought to begin to consider L2s much less as an extension of Ethereum in all circumstances, and extra as a spectrum: during which some networks are thought of as much as Ethereum’s requirements, and a few aren’t, as a result of they provide customers one other perk or profit on the expense of safety or decentralization.
The announcement might show to be a watershed second for the world of L2 growth and advertising. For years, most networks constructing on Ethereum have honed their pitch round “scaling Ethereum”. Now, Buterin says, leaning on that framing will not suffice.
“What would I do at this time if I have been an L2?” the software program developer posited. “Determine a value-add aside from ‘scaling.’”
