Solana Co-Founder Challenges Layer 2s—Are They Even Needed?

The co-founder of a popular cryptocurrency took a swipe at Layer-2 cryptos, claiming that these rollups are only redundant and make blockchain scaling more complicated.

Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of the Solana network, argued that Layer-1 solutions are sufficient without Layer-2 tokens which do not offer genuine, long-term benefits.

Layer-2 Not Needed?

Yakovenko said in an X post that Layer-2 cryptocurrencies are unnecessary and only add unnecessary complexity to blockchain scaling.

“There is no reason to build an L2,” Yakovenko said in a post, which is the Solana co-founder’s response to @ripdoteth, who claimed that there is no reason to build a Layer-1.

The crypto co-founder argued that Layer-1 solutions, like the Solana network, can already offer efficient, cheap, and secure scaling solutions. Hence, he said that Layer-2 tokens are only providing redundancy.

There is no reason to build an L2.

L1s can be faster, cheaper, and more secure.

They aren’t slowed down by a glacially moving L1 data availability stack, or have to compromise security with complex fraud proofs and upgrade multisigs. https://t.co/Ov3YAfz9U4

— toly (@aeyakovenko) March 23, 2025

“They aren’t slowed down by a glacially moving L1 data availability stack, or have to compromise security with complex fraud proofs and upgrade multisigs,” he explained.

He added that Solana does not encounter these kinds of problems since it has separate execution and data layers on an efficient base layer.

Storage Issues

Yakovenko described Solana’s data generation as tiny at 80 terabytes annually, saying that Layer-1 cannot scale because they are hindered by storage.

“Solana generates a measly amount of data. Like 80TB per year so far. It’s just not enough data to build a business around, but too much for any individual to easily store,” Yakovenko said.

The crypto co-founder told users not to create baseless Layer-2 cryptocurrencies, saying early this month, “You can skip creating a valueless L2 and just launch a token.”

When asked about Solana’s plan on offloading unused storage, he responded that the ledger is going on “filecoin or whatever decentralized storage provider wants it.”

Several crypto investors disagree with Yakovenko, arguing that Layer-2 solutions are necessary.

“L1s can’t scale to accommodate 8 billion global users. L2s are needed no matter which chain you see leading the way. And they can be faster, cheaper, more secure, interoperable, specialized to use case, localized or decentralized, evolve fast or ossify,” @RuzhyoX commented on Yakovenko’s post.

The Solana co-founder replied that Layer-1 can accommodate 8 billion users, saying, “8 billion * 3 txs per day is sub 300k tps. That fits in under 1gbps of block throughput for 400 byte txs.”

He argued that Solana’s design allows it to compete with every Ethereum Layer-2 solution directly, which is not the case with Ethereum itself. “There is no point to multiple L2s … if a single L2 can handle parallel execution, then it can use up all the blobspace and run every use case.”

Featured image from Gemini Imagen, chart from TradingView