- Accelerated decentralization on Ethereum L2.
- Essential cryptographic proofs for rollups.
- Cryptographic trust as the future of L2.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has recently stepped up pressure on Layer 2 (L2) solutions, demanding that they accelerate their efforts towards true decentralization. Ethereum, known for its relentless pursuit of scalability, has increasingly relied on rollups over the past few years, shifting significant amounts of processing power to L2 protocols in order to increase transaction volume while reducing costs.
According to L2Beat, Layer 2 chains should augment Layer 1 in a way that minimizes the need for trust. However, the reality shows that many of these chains still rely heavily on trusted intermediaries, despite ongoing efforts to develop the necessary technology.
On Thursday, September 12, Buterin stated in a post on X that he will no longer publicly discuss Layer 2 chains that fail to achieve Stage 1 decentralization starting next year. He categorically stated, “It doesn’t matter if I invested or if you are my friend; Stage 1 or bust.”
Buterin pledged to only mention L2s that reach stage 1+, with a possible exception for genuinely interesting new projects. He criticized chains that still function as “glorified multisigs” and emphasized the arrival of the “era of crypto trust.”
In technical terms, a stage 1 rollup requires the implementation of fraud proofs for Optimistic rollups or validity proofs for ZK rollups. These proofs are essential to ensure that transactions are correct without relying on third parties, an essential step towards security and decentralization.
Buterin also highlighted the need for a security council that requires 75% signatures to change the proof system, describing this measure as a “very reasonable moderate milestone.” According to L2Beat, only a few chains, such as Arbitrum One, OP Mainnet, dYdX v3, and ZKsync Lite, have managed to reach this milestone.
At the time of publication, the price of ETH was quoted at US$2.356,07 with an increase of 0,4% in the last 24 hours.