Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently shared his in-depth views on Ethereum's scalability strategy through personal social media and community discussions. His comments are drawing attention from the industry, as they are interpreted as emphasizing harmonious development with the mainnet (L1) beyond the existing Layer 2 (L2)-centric expansion strategy.
In a recent post, Buterin suggested that Ethereum's original vision needs to be redefined to fit the changing network environment. He specifically mentioned the need to improve the performance of the Ethereum mainnet (L1) itself, moving away from its existing structure, which relied heavily on L2, to build a more balanced ecosystem.
Buterin also offered his advice on the technical maturity of L2 projects. He noted that some projects are still in their early stages in terms of security and decentralization, and emphasized the need for efforts to realize the inherent values of blockchain, such as "trustless" implementation, beyond simply increasing processing speed.
Specifically, Buterin, rather than debating the superiority of any particular project, cited major projects like Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism as examples, explaining that L2s should strengthen their unique value propositions going forward. This includes enhanced privacy, application-specific features, and technological advancements that more directly leverage the security of the Ethereum mainnet.
Industry experts interpret this statement not as a withdrawal from the "L2-centric strategy," but rather as a revision to the roadmap for "qualitative advancement of the entire Ethereum ecosystem." Accordingly, major L2 projects are expected to engage in strategic restructuring, including increasing technological independence and accelerating their decentralization roadmaps.
