L2 builders respond as Vitalik questions rollups’ scaling role
Layer-2 network teams responded after Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the initial concept of L2s as Ethereum’s primary scaling engine “no longer makes sense,” urging a pivot toward specialization. In a post on Wednesday, Buterin argued that many L2s have not fully inherited Ethereum’s security because they still rely on multisignature bridges, while the base layer is becoming more capable through gas-limit increases and potential native rollups.
Teams developing Ethereum L2s largely agreed that rollups must evolve beyond serving as “Ethereum but cheaper,” though they differed on whether scaling should remain central to their mission. The discussion comes as Ethereum’s roadmap aims to expand base-layer capacity and L2s position themselves as tailored environments for distinct technical needs.
L2 teams acknowledge shift, disagree on scaling’s primacy
Karl Floersch, co-founder of the Optimism Foundation, said in an X post that he welcomed the challenge of building a modular L2 stack that supports “the full spectrum of decentralization.”
Karl Floersch
Floersch noted persistent obstacles, including long withdrawal windows, the absence of production-ready Stage 2 proofs, and insufficient tooling for cross-chain applications. “Stage 2 isn’t production-ready,” he wrote, adding that existing proofs are not yet secure enough to support major bridges. He also backed a native Ethereum precompile for rollups, a concept Buterin has recently highlighted to make trustless verification more accessible.
Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs, took a firmer position in an X thread, asserting that while the rollup model has evolved, scaling remains a core value proposition for L2s. He said Arbitrum was not built as a “service to Ethereum,” but because Ethereum provides a high-security, low-cost settlement layer that makes large-scale rollups viable.
Steven Goldfeder
Goldfeder pushed back on the idea that a scaled Ethereum mainnet could replace throughput currently handled by L2 networks, citing periods of elevated activity when Arbitrum and Base processed over 1,000 transactions per second while Ethereum handled fewer. He warned that if Ethereum were perceived as hostile to rollups, institutions might choose to launch independent layer-1 chains instead of deploying on Ethereum.
Base emphasizes differentiation; Starknet signals alignment
Jesse Pollak, head of Base, said in an X post that scaling at Ethereum’s L1 is “a win for the entire ecosystem,” and agreed that L2s cannot simply be “Ethereum but cheaper.” He said Base has focused on onboarding users and developers while advancing toward Stage 2 decentralization, adding that differentiation through applications, account abstraction, and privacy features aligns with the direction outlined by Buterin.
Jesse Pollak
Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of StarkWare, which develops the non-EVM Starknet rollup, responded on X with: “Say Starknet without saying Starknet,” suggesting some ZK-native L2s view themselves as already fitting the specialized role Buterin described.
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