Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem is reassessing its purpose after Vitalik Buterin publicly questioned whether rollups should still be viewed primarily as Ethereum’s main scaling solution. His comments have triggered detailed responses from leading L2 teams, revealing broad agreement on the need for specialization but differing views on how central scaling remains to their mission.
Shift From “Ethereum but Cheaper”
Buterin argued that the original L2 vision no longer fully applies, pointing to ongoing reliance on multisignature bridges and incomplete security inheritance from Ethereum. At the same time, Ethereum’s base layer is increasing capacity through gas-limit adjustments and longer-term plans such as native rollups, reducing pressure on L2s to handle all throughput growth.
Karl Floersch, co-founder said in an X post that;
Optimism and Arbitrum Emphasize Evolution, Not Retreat
Optimism’s leadership acknowledged that achieving full decentralization remains a work in progress, citing challenges such as long withdrawal times, immature fraud-proof systems and limited tooling for cross-chain applications. They support deeper integration with Ethereum, including native verification mechanisms, to strengthen trustless security.
Arbitrum’s developers took a firmer stance that scaling remains fundamental. They argued that real-world demand regularly pushes L2s to transaction volumes far beyond Ethereum mainnet levels and warned that sidelining rollups could push institutions toward alternative layer-1 networks.
jesse pointed reaction on X;
Base framed Ethereum’s L1 improvements as ecosystem-positive while stressing that L2s must differentiate through application design, account abstraction and privacy features rather than cost alone. Starknet’s team signaled alignment with a future where specialized rollups, not uniform clones, define Ethereum’s next phase.
Together, these responses show an ecosystem moving toward specialization while still debating how indispensable large-scale L2 throughput will remain.
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