Vitalik Buterin recently took to X to restart a somewhat polarising conversation in the Ethereum space, regarding the complicated relationship between Ethereum mainnet and its L2s.
According to the Ethereum cofounder, this current conversation about L2 relevance is happening in the face of two facts. One is that “L2s progress to stage 2 (and, secondarily, on interop) has been far slower and more difficult than originally expected.”
The other is that “L1 itself is scaling, fees are very low, and gas limits are projected to increase greatly in 2026.”
Why Vitalik believes Ethereum L2s need to play a different role
Vitalik claims both these facts mean that the “original vision of L2s and their role in Ethereum no longer makes sense, and we need a new path.” He believes a path is needed now more than ever because the current vision no longer makes sense.
“L1 does not need L2s to be ‘branded shards’, because L1 is itself scaling” he wrote. “And L2s are not able or willing to satisfy the properties that a true “branded shard” would require.”
Vitalik says Ethereum itself is now scaling directly on L1, with large planned increases to its gas limit this year and the years ahead.
“We should stop thinking about L2s as literally being “branded shards” of Ethereum, with the social status and responsibilities that this entails. Instead, we can think of L2s as being a full spectrum,” he wrote.
Vitalik’s advice for L2s today
Vitalik, in his post, outlined several paths for L2s in his post. He suggested reframing L2s as a broad spectrum rather than simply tagging them as official Ethereum extensions.
He argues that some can still be strongly secured by Ethereum but that others have looser ties to the network with users often choosing based on their needs. Vitalik suggests that L2s need to focus on adding value beyond mere scaling.
He claims that those that want to remain focused on scaling will have to take it to the extreme, beyond what even an expanded L1 would want to do.
Another option is to be stage 1 at the minimum, especially if the L2 is doing things with ETH or other Ethereum-issued assets. The last thing he mentioned was supporting maximum interoperability with Ethereum, though he acknowledged this will differ for each one.
“It’s each L2’s choice exactly what they want to build. Don’t just “extend L1”, figure out something new to add,” Vitalik wrote.
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