Author: Martin Young, CoinTelegraph; Translated by: Wuzhu, Jinse Finance
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has reiterated his stance on Layer 2 decentralization, saying he only plans to recognize scaling solutions for the “first phase” of its decentralized scale.
In a Sept. 12 X post, Buterin said he takes this “very seriously” and that starting next year, he only plans to publicly mention Layer 2 networks “above Phase 1.”
He added that there might be a "short grace period for really interesting new projects."
“It doesn’t matter if I invest or not, or if you’re my friend or not; it’s either Phase One or bust.”
Buterin said that many zero-knowledge Rollup teams told him that "they are on track to enter phase 1 by the end of the year" and he is "happy to see this happen."
“The era of Rollups glorified as multisig is coming to an end. The era of crypto trust is here,” he wrote.
Source: Vitalik Buterin
In 2022, Buterin introduced the concept of "training wheels" for Ethereum scaling Rollup projects at different stages of development.
He outlined a three-stage path to Layer-2 decentralization.
The first “Phase 0” or “full training round” is a project that self-identifies as a Rollup, where all Rollup transactions are on-chain and users can trade and withdraw funds without operator intervention.
However, with only a simple multi-signature wallet in control, no fraud or validity proofs are required.
Phase 1 (the lowest level Buterin will now acknowledge) is the next step in decentralization, where Layer-2 has active fraud prevention or proof-of-validity schemes.
They should also have a multi-signature based override mechanism or “safety committee” but with strict conditions, such as requiring at least 6 out of 8 signatures and a quorum block group that must be outside the Rollup organization. There should also be a seven-day delay window for upgrades.
The final stage on the road to Layer 2 decentralization is “Phase 2” or “No Training Wheels.”
During this phase, if the project code is bug-free, no group can overwrite the code output. In addition, limited use of safety boards is allowed and only for obvious bug situations, as well as a 30-day upgrade activation delay.
In June, several Layer 2 Rollup teams, including Linea, ZKsync, Arbitrum, and Optimism, claimed that “Phase 2” full decentralization would be achieved within a few years.
